Lights
by Coco-Minu
Summary: Everyone needs a light, even if it's barely shining. NejixIno, SasukexIno.
1. Prologue

Note: The results of the vote were close. Neji came first, with eight. Shikamaru a close second, with six. Naruto and Sasuke were joint third, with five each. Kiba had four, Chouji and Shino three each. Sai, Itachi, Hidan, Tobi and Gaara all had two votes. Lee, Sasori and Kankuro all had one, and the saddest one who received no votes was Deidara. So the next Ino pairing to be written? NejixIno, but I decided to throw some SasukexIno in for the heck of it.

Summary: _Everyone needs a light, even if it's barely shining._

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Lights**

* * *

_**Prologue**_

* * *

_Neji, there are tea lights floating in the water._

With each step she took further away from wherever he was, the connection was becoming weaker and making the words they whispered to each other like lovers might whisper sweet nothings in each others ears could barely be heard. They were not supposed to be, that would be what kept them alive father than caught by enemies. But now their words were too quiet, too hushed and crackly for either of them to understand.

_We need to regroup. Give the idea to e__veryone; they'll know it's you. _

Neji replied, and hearing his voice ringing in her head did no favours in helping her concentrate. She simply did not understand. Tea lights, small candles that floated in water. Signs of civilisation and human life, although she could detect none. A chill ran down her spine softly. She just had to accept a stupid mission like this, didn't she?

_No, someone's here. I think I may have just walked into a trap._

Ino froze. Somebody was here, although they had blocked of their chakra. She could hear their thoughts, louder than that of her team mates. It made her feel ill. The shouting and negative energy, the want to mutilate. The want to kill, not as a job like her but because the person simply wanted too. Sick rose in her throat, and bile threatened to emit but nothing left her mouth. Controlling herself was a better option at that moment, so if it came to a fight she wouldn't be unprepared and weakened before it begun.

_Ino, if it's a trap we need to find you. Why do you think this mission is A-rank? The enemies we're going to end up fighting probably can't be handled alone. Get back to the meeting point._

She tried, actually listening to her team leader at that point. Although it seemed demeaning and made her seem weak, he was probably correct. Only a slight few were able to handle A-ran criminals in her group. She had fought an S-rank, with Shikamaru once. But he had insisted that she stay out of the way. They all thought she was useless. She swallowed the lump building in her throat.

_Well, what do we have here? Konoha sending little girls to war. How adorable._

She was vaguely aware that something near her had smashed into pieces, scattering debris everywhere. But she was already gone in the trees, pelting as fast as she could through them until the greens and browns merged in a strange blur. Even if she was not strong like Sakura, she was a good interrogator and spy. To be good at such a thing, you needed speed. Power didn't matter, you just needed to outrun the enemy and avoid fights in order that the information you had gathered was not lost. Be it in scrolls, or memorised in your head. The enemy had ways to make you forget. Disposing of the document, and in most circumstances where people had been caught disposing of the person as well.

_I can feel her chakra; she's in a hu__rry. She's drawing nearer to me. _

Ino ignored the string of insults that the two people were firing at each other. The first person was clearly female. The girl was coming; her thoughts were still telling her that. She suddenly made a sharp turn to the right through a gap in the trees before landing in a clearing, hoping to control her thoughts a little better.

_Neji, there are three at least! I can't get back in any single way; one of them is likely to be following me. She seems to be able to sense my chakra although I'm masking it. A special ability, perhaps?_

_No, probably just a developed technique. If that's the case, still try to stay well hidden but if they attack don't try anything like your shitenshin. The best course of action is one that isn't like your usual one, you have spying techniques. I'll be there soon, just watch your back._

_I don't need you to treat me like I'm useless!_

_I'm not; I'm going to help you!_

Ino ignored the rest of the thoughts that were going through Neji's head. The girl had followed her. Her presence was obvious. Ino crouched on her knees, ready to spring out of the way of any attacks and fight back with twice the power. Familiar adrenaline pumped through her veins, waiting for the attack that didn't come. The girl simply stepped into the clearing, an odd smile upon her face.

"Hello. I think you're special, you know. You must have known I was coming, or you wouldn't have changed your direction. I've told the other three to stay back a while. I want to find out about you before you die. How you knew." She grinned, her glasses glinting under the harsh sun and making her eyes appear small and narrow. Her red hair was lacklustre, her outfit dull. She was good with chakra, Ino could tell just by looking at her hands. Neji was right, a developed technique.

_There they are! Karin and whoever she is. Looks more like a child's doll than a ninja. Karin can probably do this herself, just as she said. I should end her suffering quickly though._

Ino narrowly dodged the oversized sword as it came down, rolling to one side to avoid being harmed by it. A man stood barely five feet from her, looking disappointed that he missed. His silver hair was well conditioned, and he had an odd smile fixed on his face that showed pointed pearly white teeth.

"You want to know why I'm special? You can figure it out. Think I'm just a doll, not really a competent kunoichi, eh? Well, this could be interesting. The only thing is, you said four people. I only noticed three." Ino said cockily as her heart leapt out of her chest as a third man entered the clearing. She decided not to mention her team mates. Neji was drawing near for the surprise attack, and she had no clue of the whereabouts of Kiba and Hinata.

"She knows what I think. How do you do that, girl?" The previous mental scrutiny being replaced with thoughts of wonder about how she done it. He had never come across somebody like her before, clearly.

"She's not just a girl. She's a Yamanaka. Yamanaka Ino, I think your name was. Do you still love me like you claimed to, I wonder? Your abilities seem useful now, rather than useless like they used to be. More suited to spies, though." A cold voice echoed in the clearing, and she looked up to see a face from a long time ago. Lips that had never given her any praise until that moment.

He still looked like a God, even with a tea light with a burnt out wick in his hand. To her, that burnt out wick symbolised an end. The light had ended, and soon she was pretty sure her life would too because he had actually taken an interest in her. Running with him was a dangerous thing to do. It would kill her if she did, and if she didn't. But she wasn't sure his small praise was an open invitation, and the likelihood was that it was not.

"Sa-sa-s-"

"I remember you being louder."

Not more than thirty metres away, Neji heard Ino scream. All ends are new beginnings, and for her the burnt out tea light Neji found in the empty clearing was the sign of change for all of them.

Especially Ino.

* * *

That's a pretty long introduction. This is prodded online now because of fauxPROJECT, so thank you to her for battering me with imaginary sticks on the forums to write it quicker.

Reviews are loved. :)


	2. Candles

Note: Thank you to those who took part in the response to the previous sort-of chapter, the prologue. Which means a huge thank you to **Kent J. Williams**, **fauxPROJECT**, **InoxSasukeSOS**, **sad little monkey**, **dancer4ver**, **Ame no Megami**, **liltle**, **Super-Sweet**, **Doctor Kiba** and all of the anonymous reviewers. Your views are much appreciated! Also, another huge thank you to **Doctor Kiba**, **Kent J. Williams**, **Super-Sweet**, **dancer4ver**, **fauxPROJECT**, **fallenmad** and **sad little monkey** for alerting. A third huge thank you goes to **Doctor Kiba**,** Kent J. Williams** and **Super-Sweet** for adding this to your favourites lists. All of you, thank you so much! :)

Warning(s): Bad language, nudity, spoilers for chapters 400 plus.

Summary: _Everyone needs a light, even if it's barely shining._

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Lights**

* * *

**_Candles_**

* * *

Thank something, someone, anything that she wasn't dead.

That was Ino's first thought when she awoke. Unfortunately, she soon grew rather wary of that thought once she realised that very fact. She wasn't dead. If she wasn't dead, there was a reason why she was alive. A reason Sasuke and the others (Karin was the girl, right?) had kept her alive instead of killing her instantly. She was certain that they could have, it would be easy for them. She doubted she could match up to the strength of any of them, and she knew that she wasn't completely and utterly weak. Something strange was afoot, and although she was not sure what it was she could feel the dark intent behind whatever it was.

Her heavy, sleep-filled eyes grazed slowly over her surroundings. She was expecting to see just barren wilderness, forests with long-rooted trees that sprung up as if from nowhere; their branches curling out at strange angles as some plants she guessed not even she would have seen before creeping up them. But instead, she saw nothing of the sort. She saw canvas-coloured fabric, steeped to a centre and beneath her a sleeping mat. Her blood ran cold. Maybe her first assumptions had been incorrect, and Sasuke had not just left her. He had been fended off, by something or someone. Unlikely as it was, she let her thoughts wonder.

_Neji, did you save me?_

She pondered the thought for what seemed like an eternity with no answer from said man before the sound of a zip being forcefully pulled reached her ears, and the dull light of early-morning sun crept in and made her shield her eyes. She felt her heart flutter with sudden hope. Hope that was quickly crushed, because instead of the white-eyed man with long dark hair and elegant elf-like pointed features poking his head through to see if she was there it was somebody else entirely. The man from before, who had been carrying the giant sword. Silver-haired, pointed features like the Hyuga but looking more wasted on him. He didn't know how to carry his beauty, and his sharp eyes seemed to glare at her although he wasn't glaring at all. Infact, it seemed that he bore her no ill will. She swallowed the lump building in her throat, ignoring the fact that it had ever been there. She was Yamanaka Ino! Not some silly little girl! So being Yamanaka Ino, futile as she knew it would be, she would try and get out of there. By force if necessary. Running with them was ignorant. She'd get herself killed, and even though there was a chance that she would get killed fighting them she'd rather die for her home than for a group of traitors.

"Hey, little dolly. You're awake. How do you feel?" He asked, with a plain look on his face. He looked interested in her, probably due to the fiasco the previous day. They had figured out that she could do something that they couldn't. Something with minds. That was probably what it was, the reason why she wasn't dead yet. They either wanted her to show them how to do what she done, or they wanted to use her in some way. She shuddered. She would rather die than help them. They might as well execute her as soon as possible with that sword she had seen Sasuke carrying.

_No, not Sasuke. That thing isn't Sasuke. It doesn't even seem human._

"Hey, dolly?" The man said again, and she looked directly at him with a hateful glare. He didn't look surprised, but he looked slightly amused by it. A small smile came to his face, and with it she saw pointed teeth peek out from the corners of his mouth. Nobody had canine teeth that large. Not even Inuzuka Kiba. She felt a cold shiver run down her spine. It wasn't only Sasuke who wasn't human. It was this guy too. But Ino stubbornly ignored her fears, biting her tongue to hold down a scream before she managed to reply.

"Fuck you. The name's Yamanaka. Yamanaka-san to you, though." She hissed, and he actually did laugh at her. Running a hand through his silver hair, he stepped in through the flap and sat next to her. It was a squash as it was, and his breath fanned her neck warmly before he whispered in her ear.

"Such impolite language, dolly. Don't expect to hear that from you again, though. I could kill you if I wanted, and you know it." He whispered, and she felt a feeling not dissimilar to paralysis stop her from swearing at him even more. He stood and moved by the exit of the tent once more, as if waiting for something.

"What do you want from me?" She asked as she sat up, and he stared at her a moment. He looked her up and down, a predatory smirk on his face. She glared again.

"Nice body you have there. If you weren't such a bitch, if Sasuke didn't want you with us for some reason I'd have you as my whore." He laughed, a look of insanity on his face. She felt slightly confused. She stared at him a moment, then looked down before a hot flush crept upon her face. She grabbed for the flimsy off-white sheet quickly, covering her body. That complete and utter _pervert_.

"Bastard, you undressed me!" She screamed. He still looked unfazed, staring at her as if seeing her in such a state was utterly normal for him. He flipped a finger up at her in a rude gesture, and if she was less, well…naked…she would have flung herself at him and at least attempted to scratch his eyeballs out. Or gouge them out. She hadn't quite decided at that moment which she wanted to do more.

"No, actually. It was Karin. I'm sure you'll at least be able to stand her; you both seem to hate me enough. Swearing at me and the like. Still, dolly, I wouldn't try and be too friendly with us. You might get yourself hurt. Oh yeah, your clothes are right next to you in case you haven't realised." He said, clearly not caring that she had the full intent of murder and him in the same mental image that was going through her head as she fumbled around for her usual purple and fishnet attire.

"Hurt? Killed, more like. Also, I'd prefer you kill me now. I'd rather die than help you." She spat vehemently, and he merely raised an eyebrow. She fumbled with the purple fabric beneath the white linen sheet, getting herself dressed awkwardly. He didn't seem to care that she knew he was watching her, and even seemed to find it amusing that it was only annoying her all the more.

"Oh, you don't want that. Sasuke can offer you so much better. You just aren't seeing it in the right light. Infact, it could be compared to that. Sasuke is a candle, showing you the way to be something better than you already are. To have more power." He smiled at her as she stood up, fully clothed and seemingly fully ready to thump him one as soon as he gave her the chance to do so.

"Candle lights show you the right way, and Sasuke is a monster now. What makes you think that they can be compared? Just go to Hell, it'll do me a favour." She replied. He stuck his tongue out of her in a way that reminded her of a little child before he grabbed her arm, and pulled her outside into a makeshift camp. The other two sitting by the fire looked up, and a cruel smirk curved onto the girl's face.

"You're pretty for a shinobi. Pretty shinobi will take up pretty offers, just to keep themselves safe. What fools. Beauty is nothing for us." She said, and Ino found herself disliking the third person before he even spoke although he seemed far less aggravating. Had he not been the one with the full intent to kill her? She found herself wondering how, when he now looked so calm and had no killer intent radiating from him. If he were not a shinobi, or hanging with a group of missing-nin she would have put him down as somebody who would not harm anything on first glance. Appearances could be deceiving though. But for now, it seemed that he was uninterested in speaking to her. His eyes merely watched her mouth curl into a sneer, and an alarmingly mocking one at that for someone who was in so much danger.

"Yes, pretty offers from pretty men like Sasuke regarding whether she'd like to go to bed with him or not. Maybe not so foolish, eh Karin?" The man who had dragged her from the tent muttered. Before she could attempt to harm him herself however, the redheaded girl had already sprung to her feet and landed a hard punch around his face. It sent him reeling, releasing his grip on Ino's wrist. But strangely, she found herself unable to run. Because someone had exited from the tent behind the makeshift fire, the orange glow illuminating his beautiful face that looked as though it were carved from marble. Nothing should be that gorgeous, that unearthly. It seemed wrong. It seemed oh so wrong how such a liar, such a treacherous man looked like a God. But underneath, he was different. That was why she stared, not because he was beautiful.

But because to her, Sasuke still looked like the little lost boy who had witnessed the murder of his family by the hands of his own brother. He looked vulnerable, and it truly shocked her. He looked directly back at her, his mouth not forming any words. They didn't need to, because it seemed he knew already another way of communicating with her. He had never been stupid.

_Yamanaka, I'm not a lost little boy._

_I'm not a dolly either, Uchiha. You need to talk to these people. I'm not a force to be taken lightly any longer. I've changed._

_No, you haven't. That's why you need to take up my offer. You see, we need some of your techniques. We'll help you if you help us. Team Hawk has only one objective, and you can help us achieve it. Of course, we won't let any harm come to you when you help us achieve it. There's more in it for you too, don't worry._

She stared at him, the unspoken words still ringing in her head. He knew how to communicate within minds, how to talk to others with thoughts. He knew she could hear his, and somehow like Neji he had learnt to read hers as well. There was a reason behind it all, and she would press to find out what it was. Even if it got her killed. She almost found herself saying it aloud, begging, pleading to know what he wanted from her. What Sasuke-kun wanted from her. She hissed. Perhaps he was right, maybe she hadn't changed. Because although he was a monster, he still looked like Sasuke. A monster in his skin, a monster in his skin who was just like him and just like he had always been. Yet somehow, she still found herself thinking of the memories of them, few as they were and thinking of him as her Sasuke-kun. Hers.

_What do you want, Uchiha?_

_You really want to know?_

"Yes." She answered aloud, breaking the sudden silence that had fallen between his small band of helpers. He had called them Team Hawk. Hawks were proud and mighty, fighting for what they wanted. They were not like vultures, not scavengers. The choice of name reflected them quite well. He had been inventive to think of it. But if they were hawks, and they only had one objective, one cause they had to be willing to fight for it. For once, it seemed Sasuke actually cared about something. An almost foreign voice came out as he spoke, alien to her. He had defiantly changed, and she knew from his words.

"I want the destruction of Konohagakure."

* * *

Unlike Ino, Neji awoke wishing he had not.

He would have to return to Konoha without a member of his team. Without Yamanaka Ino, a member of the interrogation squad. How would he explain to Ibiki Morino that he had simply lost his favourite pupil? That Neji, a jounin, a strong and powerful shinobi who had worked hard for everything he had earned had lost someone? Not just someone, but one of the few people he actually did not detest spending time with? He masked his fears with responsibility, his worry with an act of being emotionless but infact it was more than he let on to Kiba or Hinata, who had finally managed to catch up with him. They outwardly showed worry for their friend, and Neji wished that he could as well. But he simply couldn't bring himself to.

Because Ino was different. Ino was different to all of them. She didn't treat him any differently to others, although she knew that they were almost like complete opposites. She still treated him with her boisterous manner; punching him lightly on the arm when he didn't laugh at one of her terrible (_because he never had a sense of humour_) jokes although he glared, talking to him loudly (_and proving that she knew he existed_) although he barely talked to her back because he found her annoying, every (_disgustingly beautiful_) thing about her that drove him insane in all the wrong (_and right_) ways.

Without her there, on his team and by his side, where she was safe something defiantly felt wrong. It wasn't just him who could feel it either. Kiba and Hinata seemed to notice his what would have been foul mood was more one of anger at himself, and he hated it. He loved it. He just wasn't sure anymore. Without her and the confusion she inflicted on his life each and every time they saw each other, everything seemed even more confused. It was almost like he needed the human form of chaos that she was, just because it made him remotely sane. She was what kept him sane.

That was all it was, he told himself. He needed somebody to be as loud as Naruto, to provide good distractions and keep him busy. To keep his mind going with her sometimes slightly crazy plans, her flamboyant dramatic ways keeping it in top form. He knew how to handle her, handle the hectic on legs that she was, and that was why he needed her back. She was his confusion, because he had none. She was his shout, because he had only ever used a plain voice without emotion. She was his insanity. She was everything he wasn't, and it was beautiful. Strangely, stunningly and perfectly _beautiful_. He didn't even want to need her. He didn't even want to like her as a friend. She was annoying, she was aggravating and everything he usually hated in people. So why was she what kept him sane? Why was she something he needed, someone he needed?

Because she was like a light. In the darkness of his solitude, she had come from nowhere. Just that little light, that tiny, insignificant light had changed everything. Because even in complete darkness, all anyone needs is a little light. It shows hope, caring, warmth. Ino was his affection, his smile, his happiness personified. So he needed to help her, whatever had happened. He needed to save her.

Because he wanted to be like a candle to her too. So why was it that everything he done to try and protect her actually went wrong? He thought of the things he had thought the previous day, which had tried to get her to stop with.

_Ino, if it's a trap we need to find you. Why do you think this mission is A-rank? The enemies we're fighting probably can't be handled alone. Get back to the meeting point._

He had practically called her useless. He would have groaned, but Kiba and Hinata were watching him so carefully doing that might well have seemed like a suicide attempt. Throwing another piece of dry wood into the camp fire in front of him, he glared into the burning flames. He never did know quite how to put his feelings into words, and that small lack of social skill had backfired on him badly. He frowned stubbornly. She was just a girl, why did he even care? It was stupid of him to have such thoughts. But even so, he had already decided on one thing.

Going back without her was not an option.

* * *

Sasuke had awoke glad that he had done so.

He knew that all of his plans were going to go perfectly that day. Flaws were never something he cared for, they led to mistakes and problems being made and created. Mistakes and problems that could be avoided, that would never have come into existence without the flaws existing to begin with. So making sure that there were no flaws, that like some human lives they ceased to exist, it meant that everything would go well. Perfectly, infact.

"Destruction." Ino repeated the one word as though it was made of venom, and she needed to spit it out of her system to keep herself alive. He almost smirked at the look on her face, betraying no emotion but underneath it all still giving away turmoil. He could sense it. He could feel her anger radiating as she tried not to think.

She had grown accustomed to her privacy, far too accustomed. She allowed those she needed to the ability to hear what she wanted them to during missions, allowed her team mates and friends to know what she was thinking as she could hear what they thought with her ability anyway when she wanted to. Sometimes when she needed to, but those situations were rare. Now he had stampeded back into her life, leaving a trail of disaster and a need for reassessment of her abilities. He could read her thoughts, whether she allowed it or not. Also, whether she wanted to or not, she could read his. This worked out to his advantage, because he could keep his under far better control than she probably could because people never knew what she was thinking unless she allowed them to. It had thrown everything she could do around, shaken it up and making her almost defenceless against him. She had never been stupid, even if she was nothing like her team mate Shikamaru, or his old team mate Sakura. But she was smart enough, and he could tell she hated the fact.

"Yes, Yamanaka. Though I don't think you were swayed by the thought of something being in the deal for you, for some small reason." He did smirk as he said those words, and he could tell she was fighting with all her might not to launch herself at him and attempt to carve his face and body to shreds. Not just with her kunai, but with her bare hands.

_I hate you._

"No, you don't. You want to though, don't you? Can you remember how you used to be? That wasn't so long ago, was it? I wonder if I was still in the village and hadn't up and left if you would still be fighting with Sakura for my affection rather than training?" His smirk grew to a cheshire cat-like grin, and she pursed her lips. Holding her tongue had never been something she was all too good at, but it seemed for then she would do so. She seemed to understand she was in danger, and she had no intention of dying at such a young age unless it was for a very legitimate reason. Which he would probably give her in a moment, although he had no intention of allowing her to depart from the world. Well, at least not until she had fulfilled the purpose he had assigned to her.

"Fuck you." She hissed. The three other members of his team stared at her, just as stunned as he felt by her answer. Not that he would show it. Her masks were good, but his were better – that was why he could see though hers so easily. Granted, his words had been harsh, but he had only intended to get her thinking. Wound up, angry and off-guard. Not thinking about what she was doing all too well. Though he had to admit, from the performance during the chunin exams was rather amazing. She was an actress, and that was perhaps one of the many things she was and he was not.

_Now, Ino, why would you say that to someone who could so easily dispose of all those you care about? You know that to me it would be just like disposing of flies. Who do you care about the most, I wonder?_

His thoughts set her mind in motion, although she wanted to ignore his words with any willpower she had left. Fighting him mentally could prevent things from happening, atrocious things that she never wanted. Yet she could already hear the distant ticks in the clock of her mind, and she couldn't stop herself.

_Daddy, Shikamaru, Chouji, Sakura, everyone really. _

_Anyone in particular?_

_Hyuga Neji._

She snarled, her lithe body curling her back into a graceful arch as she bent over, looking directly up at him angrily. She fell to her knees softly, more carefully than he would expect any shinobi to do. Her continuous training had made her light, cautious. Her movements were well-practiced, elegant and head turning like the moves of a ballet dancer. She knew just what to do to drive any man insane, any man but him. He could tell he had been the only one to ever deny her. She was a spoilt child, accustomed to getting her way. But she had grown now, she knew the ways of the world and she accepted them as they were. Their brutality, their cruelty, their lies and deceit. She lived with those ways, entwining them with her illusions created though genjutsu and family techniques to break minds. She was not the same girl she had been, young and foolishly in love. Ino had grown into a woman.

"Address me as Yamanaka, and kill me now. Preferably with that sword, beheading is a quick and easy way to go. I will not give in to a bastard like you!" She shouted, and he stared at her coldly. His smirk was gone, all forms of almost-joking cruelty exchanged for an icy heart. His hand hovered over the handle of his sword, ready to draw it and do as she asked in an instant. It would have been so easy. But he controlled himself, forcing the anger away with logic and reason. Killing her right then would make things harder, almost impossible perhaps.

"You don't want that. You're the only one who can save them." He whispered, and then looked away quickly. Her nerve was strong, but that was not what bothered him. Her eyes were just as empty as his. She was searching for something, and she didn't know what. She was fed up with cruel dreams acting kind, and had no intention of going along with what he had planned whatsoever. But she had no choice. He did not like to be played for a fool.

"They'll be fine by themselves, they can fight. Most of them better than me. I bet Sakura could kill you easily, I'd love that." She whispered, just loud enough for all of them to hear. He instantly snapped, his love for power overcoming the logic. His blade was drawn in an instant, mere inches from the back of her bare exposed neck. The cold steel almost touched her skin, but the thought of death did not seem to bother her. He frowned, his grip on the handle tightening. He couldn't kill her, but she needed to know her place.

_What about Neji? You care about him, and he's only one man. I could kill him, and you're not stupid are you? You know that I could. You could watch it, if you wanted. You could see his beautiful crimson blood stain fresh green grass and the dull silver of this sword, knowing that you were responsible for it and that his death was your fault. Would that satisfy you, Yamanaka? Or would you prefer it if-_

"Stop!" She screamed, her command to him demanding but her voice weakening. She repeated it a few times, finally bowing her head. She couldn't meet his eyes. He felt a fleeting few seconds of triumph, seeing her so broken and defeated.

"So you'll do what I ask of you?" He asked, sheathing his sword once more. He heard a small sob, and looked at the ground beneath her downturned face. No tears were falling to it. She was forcing herself not to cry, not to be weak like she had been. How amusing.

"No! I don't care about Neji! He's nothing to me! He's an arrogant, stuck-up bastard like you! I couldn't care less about either of you, because you both just need to stop being the ignorant children you were three years ago and grow up!" She screeched. He lunged for her in an instant, ready to throttle her with his bare hands. It wouldn't be the first time he had killed someone, and he would have no remorse for it. His hands were grabbed midair by Juugo however, the brute force stopping him instantly. He sneered. How ironic that the one who craved bloodshed had been the one to prevent it. Pulling his hands away quickly, he watched as Juugo grabbed her arm and pulled Ino to her feet in front of him. She met his eyes for mere seconds before she was forced to look away, dragged into the forest and away from him. Sasuke didn't bother to tell the male that she was a vicious bitch who wasn't as useless as she seemed, or that her team mates were probably still lurking somewhere in the woods. It would be more interesting for him to find out himself.

When they came back however, he knew he would be triumphant. She thought she saw a broken boy, a child soldier? He would show her how wrong she was. He was the light of hope for his vagabond team, the candle to light the way. The one to show them strength and power, the one who drew them all together as a force that so far had been unstoppable. He was the one who had gathered them, given them each other to depend on. Given them a lead, shown them the way with the light of information and power. Although Ino seemed to want to extinguish the still burning flame of the candle, he was not going to allow it. She would follow him eventually, just as they did. Just as he wanted her too. He would show her the error of her current ways and what she could achieve, he would be her candle.

He would be her light.

* * *

Longer than it should be, for just the chapter that sets the ground. Next chapter things will really kick off, so watch out for it. It should prove to be rather more interesting than this chapter has been. Any critisism of the way I write Neji is especially appriciated as well, as I think he was rather out of character.

Reviews are loved. :)


	3. Thunderbolts

Note: Thank you to all of those who responded to the previous chapter! A huge thank you goes to **fauxPROJECT **and **Rainforestfrogs** for adding this to their favourites lists, another thank you goes to **DarkSmile**, **candiedgigi **and **Rainforestfrogs **for alerting this. Not to mention the last, but by certainly no means least a huge thank you to **Super-Sweet**, **Kent J.Williams**, **Doctor Kiba**, **DarkSmile**, **InoxSasukeSOS**, **Ame no Megami**, **dancer4eva**, **sad little monkey**, **Rainforestfrogs**, **iluvkiba44**, **fauxPROJECT **and all of the anonymous as a thank you for your reviews. They always interest me, and keep me motivated when it finally comes to the write up for the next chapters! So once again, to all of you a huge thank you for your support! :)

Warning(s): Bad language, angst.

Summary: _Everyone needs a light, even if it's barely shining._

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Lights**

* * *

**_Thunderbolts_**

* * *

Ino hated bad weather.

It came at the moments it was least needed. The rain would pour down and soak her bones without mercy, drenching her skin and making it slippery and wet. Not to mention cold. The cold that became even more numbing when the wind blew harshly against her skin, turning it shades of pink and red like she was a child's hand-made card for the long-suffering mother who had given it life on some stupid public holiday like Valentines Day. Her hair would whip around wildly, the ends curling and her fringe sticking to her face as though it had decided to cling to her for dear life although it was firmly rooted into her head. But most of all, she hated the lightning. The thunderbolts crashing through the sky, louder than she knew she was. Deafening, the claps loud and over exaggerated. It was never something she particularly looked forward too. Infact, she detested it with every fibre of her being. She was not one to use the word hate lightly, but she would use it in those occasions.

"You're quite a riot, aren't you? Yamanaka-san, did you say it was?" The man asked. He seemed intrigued by her attitude towards Sasuke, yet she could not fathom an idea as to why. He deserved that treatment from Naruto and Sakura even more, but she knew they would never raise their voices loud enough to say so. They were content to bring him back, to seclude him but never once wonder why he had left. Because they could not bare the thought of him leaving, and to discuss it would be worse than his treachery. She simply didn't understand them at all. Sure, once she had seen Sasuke as some symbol of divine beauty. A beacon of glory and power, almost unattainable. But she had been young, though not very much younger than she was now. She was a fool back then, and she was his fool. He would not play on that again now. She knew what he was like, and she would no longer be a fool for such an ignorant, overly-glorified boy.

"Riot wouldn't be the correct term. Bitch is a preferred name; sometimes people call me 'that Yamanaka whore' or 'pig' though. But I like Yamanaka-san. You are?" She babbled, being bluntly honest with the enemy although she had no clue why and even asking him questions herself that in other circumstances could have got her killed. But he seemed to find her interesting. To him, it seemed that she was a puzzle. She needed to be figured out, pieced together by a few pieces at a time until who she actually was deep down was painfully obvious to him. He was a thinker, and she was a mind-reader. How perfectly wonderful. If he wasn't the enemy, if she didn't have to kill him eventually, she might have been a bit more comfortable about the way she was acting. But she was a Yamanaka, and her clan was full of proud socialisers. Social life kept up looks, and looks helped in creating a flawless illusion.

"I'm Juugo. The other two are Karin and Suigetsu, and by the look of it I'm guessing that you already know the one and only Uchiha Sasuke. If so, why did you tell him no?" The man asked, running a hand through his already messy hair. It stuck up at odd angles, and along with his plain outfit it seemed as though he was just a normal passer-by. If he had not been with the group, if he had not been the one with the original intent to kill her, she might have believed that he was just a traveller. But he wasn't. Although he looked plain and average, she could tell that there was something different about him. Something not quite right that didn't meet the eye.

"Knowing wouldn't be a good term either. He was never a particularly sociable person. I told him no because he needed to hear it from someone for once, and because I refuse to help any of you. No offense or anything, you seem like a nice guy, but killing all of my friends by overturning the place I grew up in and the place I love? I'd find a way to kill you all, even the Uchiha bastard himself, and if necessary kill myself trying." Ino finished quickly, and her smile was manic. He smiled at her back, emitting a soft chuckle.

"I'd like to see you try that. No offense intended or anything, either." He replied, and she stared at him a moment. True, he did have the sheer brute power to stop Sasuke from messily just lopping off her head with a sword, but she was the one with the mind control. If she were to possess him, it would only be all too easy if he couldn't fight back. Whoever he was, he was strong though, as plain as he looked. That much was evident.

"Oh, I'd love to do it. Killing Sasuke would be the greatest pleasure of my life." She breathed, a wide grin on her face which soon disappeared. She had felt something, and she could hear something too. Something not human, but still very much alive.

The sky. It was crying at her pitiful situation, crying at how weak she had become and crying with laughter at the fact she was actually talking to the enemy like he was just a normal person she had met in the street. The rumbling was the cruel laughter too; the sound of thunder approaching and making her even more pathetic than she already was because of this entire stupid situation that had transpired. Thankfully, Juugo (if that was his real name) had a frown on his face too. He merely glanced at the dark sky before looking at her for a few seconds, then back ahead. He changed direction, turning around immediately.

"We should head back, we've been gone long enough." He said quietly, although it had barely been what she would guess at half an hour. She watched him for a moment, waiting for a sign that he knew what was troubling her. If he didn't, he was avoiding getting to know her too well. She was the same in that respect. When you go to know people, when you actually liked them, it made them even harder to kill. She bowed her head silently. If he did know, he was being rather tactful about it. Perhaps he wasn't as bad as he seemed, if her latter idea of him knowing was true that was. Maybe he wasn't a bad person; he had just been led astray. Who was she trying to kid? The sky rumbled again, and she felt her heart leap for a few seconds. She shivered as the rain began to pour down, and she felt his eyes watch her a moment. He looked at her in her small purple top, exposing her stomach and the small matching skirts. The exposing fishnet, tight on her skin. She would be soaked by the time they reached the camp again, perhaps even ill. She supposed Sasuke wouldn't like that at all, if he needed her as much as he seemed to for whatever he was planning.

"Yes, we wouldn't want to keep the King of Arseholes waiting now, would we?"

* * *

Neji knew that somewhere, something was wrong with Ino.

If there was one thing that managed to reduce the bold woman (girl, she was only fifteen, a year younger than him as he constantly reminded himself) to a quivering wreck, it was that. She was by no means as weak as he treated her like she was. Her skills were good for spying, and she had enough raw power to send him reeling if she ever landed a punch on him. But he knew that even she had her fears. Being alone, being unloved. They were the hidden ones. But her obvious one was thunder. She was scared of the thunder that lit up the sky with blues and whites, flashing and daring. More so than her, even.

He had been to the place where she had disappeared from again that morning, the place that all three of them had heard her scream from. Even Kiba and Hinata, who had been much further away than he had at the time. His eyes had revealed nothing. Hinata and Kiba had gone in one direction, as he ordered. He himself had gone alone, in the Southern direction. They had left no tracks, and if they had done so it probably meant they were equally as unexpected in other things they done. Whoever had taken her was cautious, and cautious people tended to do the least expected things.

His footsteps were low-sounding, making a slight drumming noise as he ran through the forest with what felt like reckless abandon. He had been correct. Not having her around had affected him, as he was usually far more careful. What he was doing now was the very thing that she sometimes done when she felt like annoying him, or simply when she decided that she wanted to go faster. It had always agitated him to no end that she was so speedy, because he was certain that although he was of a higher rank than her and he clearly spent far more time on his training she had some sort of natural ability when it came to that area. It seemed that she was almost as fast as him, or she was as fast as him. If she trained hard enough, he hypothesised that she could been even faster. This created a problem. Because they were both by no means slow, and Ino would either try to kill whoever had made her scream or if she was outnumbered ran so fast she became a fuzzy blur skipping between trees to be by him so he could back her up. It was unlikely to be the latter, or it would have been impossible for them to be so cautious. Which meant the enemy they were dealing with was also extremely fast, not just extremely careful.

It was raining, and he could hear his footsteps drag through the sodden mug even with each speedy movement. The thunder was breaking and wombing steadily in the sky like the sea would with its surf, and he could feel his heart speeding up because he was sure he wasn't imagining things when he felt it drift through his head.

_Calm down, you're fifteen! It's just the weather! Just some lightning! You're not scared of S-class missing criminals, yet you're scared of this? You should be ashamed!_

_Ino, is that you?_

He felt his senses growing duller with each passing moment, but he carried on nonetheless. He had heard her, he was certain of it. So why wasn't she answering him? She said S-class missing criminals. Wasn't that just the cherry on his cream cake? Swearing more violently than she did when she had a tantrum, he continued to force himself further through the forest until he felt it again. Calling for backup would have been the smart thing, but he was no longer sure how far he was away from their campsite.

_Neji? Neji, is that you? Stay away! Get out of this forest, and get back to Konoha!_

_Yes, it is Ino, and I shall do no such thing. I'm coming to get you._

_You don't understand, just go back! _

_No. That would be stupid; you're a member of our team. Nobody gets left behind, Ino. Nobody. Not even if they beg and plead, I won't allow it._

_You think it's stupid that I don't want you dead? Go back to Konoha, this isn't something you can handle yourself. Chivalry isn't a good thing if it gets you killed, dipshit._

That was the final thought he felt run through his head before he couldn't hear her replies again. He stopped a moment, regaining his breath from running at the same speed at whatever she and whoever she was with was running at. He was relieved she was alive, and she didn't sound harmed but he didn't understand it. Why wasn't she even harmed? It was almost as though she was being used as bait, or that they needed her for something. Although what it was, he wasn't sure. It was only then he realised what she had called him on top of that, and let out another string of profound curses.

Lack of energy was quickly overcoming his body however, although he was drawing in so much oxygen. He felt faint. He hadn't even realised how exhausted he was, although he'd been awake so early in the morning and now the sky was spattered dark with afternoon stars. The lightning was still flashing, seeming to clash with them completely. They were both beautiful things, but they simply didn't work together. The lightning was too loud, too brash and knew that it was beautiful. It showed itself off. On the other hand, the stars were quiet about their beauty. They stayed serene, painting the sky and giving the night something ever just so nearly as radiant as the pale moon. He knew that it was stupid of him to have wasted so much energy then, as he could feel his feet slipping beneath him. His mind slipped into deep darkness of oblivion as he fell to the floor, eyes drooping. He was tired, sure, but he could not allow himself to sleep there. It would not only be dangerous, but irresponsible too. If the camp was close by, he could do just as Ino had put it and get himself killed.

_You think it's stupid that I don't want you dead? _

Her words replayed in his mind. At least she didn't hate him. At least she cared about him, even if it was only enough to not want him to be killed. She had been far more sensible for him for once in their lives, and as usual he had ignored her. Oh, the bittersweet irony. She had been perfectly right. Chivalry probably wasn't a good thing, if it made him so exhausted. All of this for a girl he just told to get lost before, too. What did he want himself to be, a knight in shining armour? It was far too late for that, because he could act as chivalrous as he felt inclined to be but it would never change anything. He was still Neji, and she was still Ino. She was unattainable because she was untouchable. She was the forbidden fruit he craved, and the one he wanted to resist at the same time. She was sickly sweet, and he hated that about her but he craved her sweetness all the same. She was so simply Ino, so simply herself that he couldn't help it. She wasn't like everyone else. She was more like Naruto, going so far as to tell him to go and fuck himself and remove the stick from his arse on occasions because he had annoyed her with his usual uncaring and stoic attitude. If she knew that he actually cared about her thoughts, she might have pulled his strings. Just for a thrill of course, to see if he was ok after she had finished playing with him. Treating him like a marionette. Little did he know, he wasn't the one who would end up dancing. It would be Ino, and it wouldn't be to her own tune either.

By the next day, Sasuke would be pulling her strings.

Sasuke liked lightning, and he loved thunderbolts.

They were a symbol of his chidori, his first feeling of truly achieving power. When he had known that he had some small form of power. True, Naruto had shown it to be nothing compared to the rasengan, but that was years ago. Now he had seen Naruto, still wearing something like an awful orange jumpsuit, and he had nothing compared to the power he had now. Compared to him, Naruto was nothing. Insignificant, useless. But then again, someone like Sakura could say the very same thing about Ino. But Sakura would be wrong.

They were coming back, finally. He saw her stumble through the forest into the clearing first, not meeting his eyes. She clearly had no intention of being associated with him, but that was fine. She didn't have to want to. Juugo clambered behind her, and he felt slightly amazed that Juugo hadn't attempted to kill her. Or vice versa. She may have looked like a dolly, as Suigetsu had put it, but beneath all her now smudged makeup and uncombed hair still somehow managing to make her look beautiful, she was a Yamanaka. He had never realised the usefulness of her clan until he knew his new mission. Minds were a powerful thing to be able to play with, and she had been doing it for years.

_So, you're back._

_As if I have a choice. I'm still not taking back my words, though. I'd prefer to be dead._

_Your death can be arranged, but not yet._

Ino suddenly looked up, glaring at him intently. He grunted before rolling on his side, stopping the connection between their eyes. He couldn't understand why himself, but he just knew that he had too. She might have changed, but her eyes were still the soul-searching pools of blue they had always been. Too full of life, caring, hurt, everything that he had done. She could put on a brave face all she pleased, but it was just as they said. Eyes were the gateway to the soul. He could tell that she wanted to cry, but he was forcing her to be stubborn. For once, for all his actions, he actually felt some small form of remorse. He ignored it harshly however, for one reason and one reason only. She was just a woman; a stupid, spoilt and ignorant one at that. Far too bratty for her own good, no matter how useful she could be. Then he felt it.

_Ino, can you hear me? Where are you?_

Ino had stopped instantly, and he froze a moment where he lay. It had been a long time, but he could have a guess at who it was. He rolled over to watch her again now she was looking away, and she too looked paralyzed. Perhaps with fear, or worry. He smirked, for it was too crooked to be a smile. She was an awful liar. A really awful one. She did care about him, and far more than she wanted to. She would blame his death on herself, and in the instant he actually managed to meet her eyes he knew the truth. It wasn't Neji or he who was the little lost child, it was her. Because she knew that he had felt it too. He stared at her a moment, no emotions on his face. It would make the situation all the more amusing.

_Strange how you say you don't care about him, compare him to me, and yet you freeze up the moment you think he might be harmed._

_Fuck off._

_Go ahead, run to him already._

_Leading you to him? No thanks. He can hear this anyway, probably. _

_That's a lie, and you know it. He can only hear you. You think I would honestly let him hear me unless it was necessary? You're pretty damn stupid, you know. Unless you actually do want me to kill him, and that was the reason for this whole train of thought._

Ino ignored him completely upon hearing that, and although her legs were mildly scratched with marks and cuts where she had walked through the undergrowth and not really concentrated on where she was going, she did exactly as he gave her the idea to. Juugo was too far away to grab her and stop her, and Karin and Suigetsu were too busy squabbling to notice that they had even returned. Juugo moved to stop her, but he stared at him before muttering the single command.

"Don't go after her." He said. Karin and Suigetsu looked up upon hearing this, and were not even able to see the flash of purple as she sped further into the forest. Sasuke stood up, waiting for a few seconds before speeding after her.

The wind whipped in his face, blowing his hair aside and making it into a crow-coloured mess. The sheen like that of a raven was gone, and his manoeuvres were perfect. Duck here and there, slip between the trees quickly, silently, like the living dead. He could not speak like the dead, not think like them, tell no tales. Just for then, at least. He knew exactly what he was going to do, and how the situation would probably unfold. Ino would say she hated him all the more for it, but she would have to learn to deal with it. It would spare her precious Neji his life, at least. He stopped a few steps away from the clearing, hearing her agitated voice.

"Just listen to me, you need to go! This isn't something you can handle!" She hissed, clearly not in the best of moods. Probably due to him, although it seemed Neji would have to be the one to deal with his severely pissed off team mate.

"Ino, I've fought members of the Akatsuki, and you're worried about me being hurt by another S-class criminal?" The calm voice came. Neji Hyuga. Sounded just as indifferent as he always had been. But of course, he was wrong. He knew he wasn't just another S-class criminal, although they were not exactly common.

"So have I, Neji. You know that. But this isn't the same! He can't be compared to any other S-class criminals!" She screeched, and he could almost imagine Neji was still acting calm. He was lucky Ino hadn't tried to punch him yet, from the sound of it.

"What's so different about him, whoever he is? They're all traitors, all murders. You seem to forget that." Neji sounded annoyed himself, and Sasuke smiled. Oh, if only he could understand that Ino was only tying to protect him. Slipping through the last remainder of the trees before him, he looked impassively at Ino as he entered the clearing. He stared at Neji instead, cold white eyes meeting dark ones that could freeze over Suna instantly.

_Don't you dare hurt him__._

Ino was glaring holes in his back, obviously wishing for him to shrivel up in a corner or a hole and simply die. It would do her a favour, at least. Neji looked away, staring at Ino for a moment with hurt etched into his features. This was just too perfect. The though was obviously directed at him, but it didn't seem that Neji knew that.

"The Hyuga is right, Ino. I am a traitor and a murderer. Itachi's dead, and yet my revenge is incomplete. I need you." He said calmly, and Ino stood tensed. She was ready to attack him if he moved any closer to Neji. She hadn't even realised it wasn't Neji he was moving closer to. It was her, the very confused-looking Yamanaka Ino. He hadn't said that's why we need you, that's why I need you. He had simply said I need you, and whatever he was aiming for something felt deeply wrong.

"So, that's what it was all along Ino. The reason you took up this mission. You played us all for fools." Neji said, and although his face was forced into the normal expressionless look he wore she knew something was wrong the instant he said those words. He was wrong, so, so wrong.

_Especially me. I was the biggest fool of all, wasn't I?_

"No, Neji! You've got it all wrong!" She screamed, about to move towards him. Sasuke seized the opportunity, moving in an instant. His speed was flawless, and he knew it. In an instant Ino was entangled in his arms, and although he could feel her struggling he had far more brute strength than her. He wound one arm around her waist, the other around her upper body carefully. Neji only watched, not saying a word.

"Yet you don't protest, do you?" He finally whispered, still watching although he did not want to. Something inside forced him to stare with widened white eyes, watching the show. Although he could feel something inside him certainly wouldn't be the same afterwards.

He was still watching when Sasuke wound his hands in her hair, pulling her closer in an instant and he completed his plan flawlessly. His lips crashed down on hers, and he knew instantly that something inside Neji had broke. He hadn't needed to harm him physically, not when doing it mentally and ensuring he would never come back was an option. Ino fought in his arms, trying to pull away. But it was clear that the Hyuga couldn't see that. She bit into his lip viciously, and he could taste blood. It was only then when he pulled away.

_Neji, please believe me! I don't even like him! I just need to know that you're ok!_

_Run along then, little Hyuga. She's mine._

_No, I'm not! Neji, you need to get back to Konoha! Prepare all the defences! He wants to kill everyone in it, destroy the Leaf completely! He needs me for it!_

_Bullshit, Ino. Just tell him the truth._

_That is the truth!_

Ino was hysterical, clawing at his chest with her sharp nails. But it achieved nothing. Neji looked even more broken than he already had. The expressionless façade had got tougher, the look on his face stony and cold. His eyes didn't meet Sasuke's, instead just staring at her pleading ones with no sympathy. Then he said it.

"You're just a lying whore. I should have known better." He said, and then turned himself around. He began to walk away, and Sasuke didn't move to stop him. Ino was fighting harder than even in his arms, but it didn't make a difference. He wouldn't let her run and stop him, although she was crying and screeching like a harpy. Only when Neji was completely out of sight did he lean closer, breathing warmly in her ear and caressing her skin softly with his words before pushing her out of his arms.

"He's right, you know. But maybe I like lying whores." He whispered, not even helping her as she landed on her knees. She looked up at him. Her hair was even messier than it had been earlier, the makeup that had already smudged now in black pools as the wetness from her eyes smudged it and made her almost resemble a panda. He had never seen anyone so vulnerable, so utterly defeated. It had been almost too easy, he realised. He almost felt sorry for her, although she had already forced herself up and thrown herself at him. She had every intent of killing him, although it didn't do much good. Her blows were blocked easily, her insults ignored each time she shouted them out at him. He was too used to hearing them.

_I hate you! I hate you!_

_Too bad. Looks like he's not coming back, so you'll need to like someone._

She stopped attacking him. Although she clearly strongly disagreed with the last part, it seemed that his words had hit her. Neji wasn't coming back. Not for her, the one he had called a lying whore. If only she knew that not so far away he was on his knees, just as she had been, wondering where he had gone wrong. But she didn't have sharingan; it was unlikely she would ever know just how much he cared about the one he had called such an awful thing.

_Let's go back then. Don't say a word to me, Uchiha. Don't even think. As far as I'm concerned, you're dead. Just as I've wanted you to be for the past three years._

_For a moment there, I almost thought we could have a relationship because I was certain that you were kissing me back. Oh well, __you've broke my heart. Now we're even, because I know I done that to you when I left. Maybe that's why you want to hate me so much._

He knew it was harsh, and he was lying. She had hated it, every single moment. That was why she had fought against him so viciously, so spitefully when she had nothing else to defend herself. But it was still glorious to see her so agitated. He knew he had one. His power was limitless, and as the sky began to crack again with lightning and the rain poured down to soak them both through to their bones, he actually laughed for the first time in what seemed to be so long. Ino said nothing, just watching him as he did so through narrowed eyes. He had won. Nobody would return for her, not with the darkness he had just created attached to her. Nobody would give her a light to show her the way home.

Not even the sky, with its infinite light from thunderbolts.

* * *

A thousand words longer than normal, and I still hate it. Doing this on the day I am home with a feeling broken back, and updating super-mega early because I love the amount of reviews I have so far. I was awful to Neji, and still feel that he was out of character. As well as this, Sasuke is a complete buttwipe. Though I suppose it is all for the progression of the story, et cetera. Look out for the next chapter if you're interested in my random babbling, you get the idea.

Reviews are loved. :)


	4. Fireflies

Note: Once again, and huge thank you to all of those who responded to the previous chapter! A large thank you goes to **Bitter-Smoke**, **Nukumi**, **beautifulgeek11**, **ece-chan**, **paper-wrists** and **thatdamnhorizon **for alerting. A second huge thank you goes to **Bitter-Smoke**, **ece-chan **and **paper-wrists **for adding this to their favourites lists. Also last but by no certainly means least; a massive thank you goes to **Super-Sweet**, **Kent J. Williams**, **ece-chan**, **DarkSmile**, **dancer4ver**, **InoxSasukeSOS**, **sad little monkey**, **Rainforestfrogs**, **Bitter-Smoke**, **beautifulgeek11**, **paper-wrists**, **Nukumi **and all of the anonymous reviewers. Someone said it was a little too theatrical for their taste though, so I am trying to tone down my drama in this. It is not even supposed to be a drama, so maybe I am abusing the character by making it like this? I do not know.

Warning(s): Bad language, spoilers for Naruto: Shippuden manga chapters 394 plus, angst, and a little violence.

Summary: _Everyone needs a light, even if it's barely shining._

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Lights**

* * *

**_Fireflies_**

* * *

"Ino, you need to understand."

Her eyes slid over the form of Juugo, perfectly calm. So much that it unnerved him. Especially when he could see beneath the ocean blue and see the stormy cobalt, furiously enraged at anyone and everyone that dared to try and convince her that it would all be ok in time. Because she knew that it wouldn't be, because time hadn't yet passed and in time things would only get worse because of what Sasuke wanted to achieve. He was strong enough to take the entire village down, she knew that for certain, but that wasn't what she cared about anymore. She cared about the fact that he had made her look like an accomplice to something she would never help in, even if it killed her resisting. Worst of all, he had even made Neji believe she was a traitor, just like he was. It was so unfair, so disgustingly wrong she wanted to be the one to kill him. Sasuke Uchiha, that was. She'd kill him with her bare hands throttling him, if she could.

"It's Yamanaka-san, and I never will. I want him dead." She whispered between chapped and reddened lips. Juugo had to admit he had never once in his life met anyone so stubborn, and Sasuke had informed them that he had given Ino the option of carrying her back but she had rudely declined. So he had been forced to drag her, by her wrist. Which by doing so, he had crushed he wrist with brute force. She hadn't said a word about that when she got back, she just healed the flesh wound and ripped some of the bandages holding her kunai holster in place and stuck a bit of wood in with it to make it hold and hopefully help heal her broken bones more easily.

Nobody else saw her scrubbing her lips vigorously at a nearby steam apart from him, because he doubted they had cared she had slipped off for a bit when they got back. Sasuke always seemed to know where she was, if not always what she was doing. It didn't seem to matter how far she went, either. It was almost like she couldn't get away from him. And try as she might he could always bring her back. So she might as well just go back herself, running wouldn't get her anywhere. She needed a plan, and she needed one quickly before she attacked someone and got herself killed when they tried to restrain her.

"You don't see it. Sasuke isn't as bad a person as you think, but I don't think I should be the one to tell you the full story. Just believe me when I say Konoha does some terrible things to keep peace, far more terrible then you could ever imagine. Sasuke is compassionate, even if he doesn't show it. He set all of the prisoners of Orochimaru free, and gave me a purpose. He can contain my anger. All he wants in return is peace. Do you not think I should try and give him that in return?" Juugo spoke quietly, and Ino found his words hard to understand. He had set people free, and he wanted peace, but he was willing to destroy the homes of others and disrupt their peace in order to do so? He was willing to let all of his memories die, just for the sake of what he wanted? She tried to understand his words, she really did, but to her what Juugo had just told her made no sense at all. But then again, he hadn't told her the entire story. But even so, she doubted anything Konoha would do to keep the peace would be extreme. Surely Sasuke was over reacting, or he'd just become obsessed with the idea of destruction. It had to be something like that. It just had to be.

"You know, Yamanaka, you're naïve. I'm not like the criminals you've interrogated. They all had a reason that made sense to you. But my reasons? I doubt you could ever understand them." Sasuke said. She felt the thin hairs on her arms and on her neck stand on end just before she opened her eyes. His face was hovering inches beside her own, his dark hair covering his face. She was pretty sure she momentarily stopped breathing in those few seconds before he got to his feet again due to shock. He had crept up on her, on them, and the first words he had said to her since the previous night were to insult her. Oh, the joy of being around Uchiha Sasuke. Someone needed to beat humanity into him.

_I never thought you were like them. You're different._

_Then why did you just have the idea that I'm obsessed with destruction?_

_Why else would you want to destroy your home?_

_Because it isn't my home. It's the reason I don't have a family._

"That's not true. It was your brother, wasn't it?" She said calmly, and Juugo's eyes flipped quickly to Sasuke. He looked as though he was restraining himself from killing her instantly, and a low hiss escaped from his pale pink lips. His dark, obsidian eyes were wild, watching her intently and making him look like a madman who could snap at any moment, just as Juugo did. But then again, Juugo could be stopped. Sasuke probably couldn't be if he went on some sort of Ino-triggered killing spree. Nobody would be spared, either.

"It may have been my brother, but it was a mission. A mission to spy on his family, to tell everything about them to the Hokage and his council. The Third Hokage, who we all looked up to. We never knew any different, did we? So he ended their suffering the quick way, stopping them from being treated like animals. But he couldn't kill me with them, no. He killed everyone, his parents, his girlfriend, everyone but his little brother!" Sasuke growled dangerously, and Ino sat transfixed as she looked up at him. That couldn't be true. The third Hokage wouldn't ask someone to spy on their own family, even if Sasuke's brother had been ANBU level at the time it would be inhuman to ask someone as young as he had been to do that. It couldn't be, it just couldn't be. But even so, Sasuke's thoughts went with it and she hadn't felt his heart skip a beat. It was the truth, and the truth hurts.

"So Shikamaru or Chouji could have been put in the same situation if the Yamanaka clan ever done something like that? They could be asked to spy on me by Godaime-sama?" Ino whispered, staring at Sasuke who for once wasn't meeting her eyes. Through all their banter, their constant arguments over the past few days and then the choking silence from the previous day she had never known why Sasuke would want to destroy Konoha. But now, she was not so sure if she had made the correct judgement by thinking him a psychopath. He clearly didn't want to answer her, and he didn't have to. Juugo did it for him, even if he didn't speak the words aloud. They still stung just as deeply.

_Yes. _

"But they would never do that, they would never agree to it. They just wouldn't." Ino whispered, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. But even so, she knew deep down her words were just to reassure herself. If they were given a mission like that, they would have no choice. Otherwise their own families would be put in danger, Uncle Shikato and Uncle Chouza, Aunt Yoshino, it would all be so wrong and unreal that even a team that knew each other as well as InoShikaChou did could be torn apart.

"But they would have to. You know they wouldn't have a choice, just as Itachi didn't." Juugo muttered softly, placing a large hand on her shoulder. It covered it entirely. Although it was supposed to be some small bit of comfort, the most she had received from anyone since they had decided to keep her there, she felt surprisingly weaker because of it. If the Godaime asked her to spy, she felt that she would have done the same as Itachi. Even if she had no younger siblings, would she be able to though? Would she be able to slaughter her entire family, which was now so small anyway? Even her father? Tears stung her eyes, and rolled down her cheeks carelessly. If they had asked her to spy on Neji and the Hyuga family, would she be able to kill Neji? If she could, anyway. She didn't want to. The salty liquid stung her eyes even further, miniscule droplets of it falling to the grass. Her village, her home, was capable of making families kill each other. Did that give it the right to still be her home? Everything she had ever believed in about it, everything they were told about the 'will of fire' when they were young, had it all meant nothing? In an instant moment of realisation, she knew something. To her home, she really was just a tool.

_But maybe to us, you can be something more._

Ino looked to Sasuke as his thoughts reached her, and suddenly she could see what they had meant when they had referred to Sasuke as a candle. Surely se had got it all wrong, he didn't want to harm anyone, and just wanted to set things straight and make things right. Erase all the lies that the village had been told, and rebuild it as a more truthful society. That had to be what he wanted. He would never end lives needlessly, if what Juugo had told her about the prisoners was anything to go on.

_Suigetsu told the prisoners that I would bring peace, and I will. You can help. Now, Ino Yamanaka, do you see why I want this?_

_Yes, I do. But I don't want to see it._

_We're not children anymore. We have to. Scraped knees were the most pain to us then, but now we're shinobi. We were just tools to that village, when we're humans. Just as Itachi was._

She sobbed, letting out a rattling choked sound. Her entire life had been lied about, her entire purpose of working for the greater good she had believed in completely fictional. Konoha, the fire country, was entirely made on the bodies of the dead. It was built on sacrifice, built on the bodies of the Uchiha clan. Maybe soon if the Godaime ordered it, the already dwindling numbers of bodies from the Yamanaka clan as well.

_Promise to me that you won't hurt them. You won't hurt Shikamaru, Chouji, Sakura, anyone. _

_Not even Neji?_

_No. Not unless you change your mind and ask me to, anyway._

"So Ino, do you accept my invitation?" Sasuke asked as her lips begin to quiver once more, ready to let out another broken sob. He placed his hand on hers softly, gently, and stared directly at her. She stared back at him, barely able to find the words to give him her answer. But it was all up to both of them to sort things out, make them the way they should be. She forced the words out of her mouth, although she knew with them she had done something both great and terrible.

_I'll help you, Sasuke. Yes, I accept._

In the inky black night sky, the glow of the fireflies made Sasuke's smile look like a smirk. But with Ino blinded by tears, she didn't see the expression. Only Juugo did, and even then, he wasn't so sure it would be a good thing to mention to her. Bugs were like humans, he realised. They darted around, selectively breeding and making sure their lives continued in the way they wished. They sought out protection for themselves, and only thought of turning against the tide of everyday life in their colonies if it was necessary. With that acceptance, Sasuke had become a firefly.

A firefly being Ino's new light.

* * *

Neji could tell that the Godaime found what he had just said hard to believe.

"Yamanaka Ino? I doubt she would ever agree to help someone like that, Neji. Are you absolutely certain that was what happened?" Tsunade said, her deep drown eyes watching the team members that remained. Kiba's chocolate eyes were surveying the floor, not knowing what to say. Hinata and Neji had the same pale white eyes, but just by those you could tell the differences between them although they were from the same family. Hinata had the same downcast look as Kiba splashed across her face, showing her clear dismay and upset. Neji was far better at hiding it, looking at her determinedly with no sign of his hurt. The only emotion she could feel practically radiating from him was anger.

"Yes. She even said not to hurt him." Neji whispered vehemently, his words sounding like venom spat from the mouth of a snake. She stared at him a moment, a frown on her face. He was the one to help her training some time ago, the one who agreed with Ibiki Morino as the second of three jounin to request that she be put to the same level, and the one who had requested for her to go on the mission as he may have needed her long range spying techniques. He felt abandoned, thrown aside and betrayed. That much was clear.

"Hinata, Kiba, could you please leave? I need to discuss this with Neji." It wasn't so much of a question, more of an order. Neji didn't look pleased about it either, his face contorting in further anger. Tsunade looked at the elegant man before her. He was just like a spoilt child when he pulled that face, clearly thinking he was about to hear something he didn't want to in the slightest. She sighed. She had a feeling this was going to be difficult. They left unwillingly, only the soft bark of Akamaru as they exited proof that they had really gone.

_Oh, joy. As if Yamanaka doing this wasn't enough, now I'm getting a lecture on it?_

"Neji, is there something you are not telling me? You said she just left with Sasuke after you found her, but it seems like something more than that. Did something else happen?" Tsunade asked, and his shoulders stiffened. He stared at his feet, the black standard shinobi sandals that were inanimate objects more immersing when he concentrated. The shade symbolised nothing to him, and that was what he needed in his mind to answer with that word.

_Thewhoretheliarthetraitorthebastardthefakerthe_**_heartbreaking__kiss._**

"Nothing. Nothing at all." He muttered, and although she raised one of her thin blonde eyebrows at his lie, she didn't press the matter. He'd tell someone sooner or later, and if he didn't then they would call Ibiki or Anko in. She was a student of the two, and perhaps they could make Neji see more sense in telling them what actually happened than she could. She refused to believe that Ino just told him that he would die if he tried to fight them, said that she had joined Sasuke and just let him leave. It just wasn't something Ino was the type to do. She never retreated from a battle unless she knew that there was no possible chance that she could win, she was far too proud to do what Neji said she had done in his account of the situation that had arisen.

"Well then, assemble your squad. Kakashi will go with you as first in command, so be sure to include him in picking your help. Luckily most people are back from their missions that could be useful. I hear Team Seven are around." Tsunade said, her voice ringing in his ears sharply. He stared at her questioningly, and then felt his voice come back so he could say what he needed to. Surely she did not mean what she thought she did, because going after Sasuke when he had Ino and probably his own team assembled seemed suicidal when he thought about it now. Logic had not dictated his earlier actions of going after her by himself, but then he hadn't known that it was the Uchiha. Even now, he wasn't so sure he wanted her back. Pretty certain he didn't want her back, infact. She'd just become a weakness for him again, and end up hurting him unintentionally more than she already had.

"Excuse me? What for?" He managed to choke out, partially stunned at himself for questioning the words of the Hokage, and questioning if she meant what he thought she did. She smiled patiently, propping one arm on her desk and placing her chin on it. She clearly almost found it amusing that he had actually questioned her for once, when he never had in any situation whatsoever before, no matter how insane it seemed or how difficult a mission was to carry out. Yet he was questioning her over one girl. It seemed sort of crazy even to him.

"To bring Ino back, of course. Sasuke coming back wouldn't be a bad bonus either, would it?" She grinned, and he nodded although he was slightly dumbfounded. Her smile was that of a cat who had the gorgeous low-fat cream milk, knowing that somehow something had gone right. The only good thing he could see in this situation was that it could give Sasuke's location to Team Seven, but even then he wasn't certain they would be able to restrain him and bring him back to Konoha. He didn't want to come back, that much was clear from their momentary encounter. By the looks of it, neither did Ino.

As he exited the office, Shino caught his eye. He had been waiting outside, sitting on the bench without saying a word. He must have been waiting to see the Godaime. A few dim lights flickered on his skin, and Neji glanced at him wordlessly for a moment.

"Fireflies. I expect you to be ready in the morning for our mission, Shino." The Aburame male nodded silently, confirming Neji's suspicion that he had known of the conversation between the Godaime and himself. He smirked thinly. Shino was a better shinobi than most gave him credit for, and maybe his bugs could be useful in detaining Sasuke. Then again, the skills of the entire Konoha Eleven could be. He set out to go to Shikamaru's house, and inform him of the situation which had really transpired in order for Shikamaru to create a plan for the ten person plus squad he had mentally chosen already. Even in the darkest of nights, a little light is useful to show you the path home. It had been Hinata who had told him that when they were barely five years old, but remembering it now he suddenly felt a little flicker of hope.

Fireflies were a light, and they could show him the way to bring Ino back.

* * *

"Sorry."

Sasuke looked up. Ino's face was hovering inches above him own. She moved away quickly however, standing up straight and looking him in the eye. He stared at her a moment. Then inclined his head to the side to show she should sit next to him. She did so, looking far calmer being around him then she had been previously. He smirked, that crooked half-smile she had known from their genin days because for once something felt much more unfamiliar than anything had been for the past few years. This girl used to have a crush on him, and yet she could sit next to him now maybe just liking him a bit and knowing he had left her behind without any extreme show of emotion. He had to envy her, really. She was insane, and that was something he had wanted to be for a long time. It could have prevented a lot of things from happening if he had been locked away like Juugo had been.

_It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known._

_I know, but it feels like you needed to hear it._

Sasuke's eyes lingered on her face as she watched the fireflies drifting near the edge of the water where she had been sitting a while ago in hysterics. Maybe she was as crazy as he thought. Her mood switched so easily after the space of a few hours it was like she was schizophrenic. His smirk widened with that thought. That would explain the years of her sudden mood swings, the constant things that were not down to 'that time of the month'. But that wasn't what mattered right now.

She had apologised. Although the insults came from her, he was pretty sure that wasn't what she was referring to. Sorry that she brought up Itachi, sorry that he was hurt by his memories, sorry that the village appointed leaders that were against his family. Sorry that he had become an avenger for that reason, sorry for thinking for him of a traitor and sorry for not understanding when he left that he needed the power. Sorry for everything that she had thought of him, and everything that their home had caused. He felt a lump building in his throat, but quickly swallowed it down. Emotions were useless.

He only needed her as a tool, just like their home had. She shouldn't be apologising to him, or for that matter even know what really happened with Itachi. She shouldn't even want to be near him still. Yet she was sitting here, just acting like nothing had happened at all. He just didn't understand it, but it looked like just as much as he needed the word sorry she needed something too. But he just couldn't figure out what it was for the life of him.

_You're really something else, Yamanaka._

"Not really. Though I think you might be." She said calmly, catching one of the fireflies in her cupped together hands. She smiled at it, the dull flashes of light that illuminated her fair features the only sign it was actually trapped in there. She seemed to find the smallest things interesting with some sort of childlike wonder. It was amazing how she could have such a mouth on her one minute, then act like this the next. He had to wonder how Chouji and Shikamaru had dealt with it, because as sure as Hell he didn't know how to.

"Hn." He let out his trademark grunt, and she took it as her cue to continue. She released the firefly a second, looking directly at him. She had a wide smile, and her eyes were shining brighter than the lights the fireflies were giving out. She looked almost as though she wanted to laugh at the sound he had let out, but she didn't. Maybe because it sounded so familiar, although she hadn't heard it in such a long time.

_Because you're a hero, Sasuke. You're going to make things better._

_Hero isn't the right word._

_Then how about a light?_

_Why a light?_

She stared at him a moment, and then let it out. A tinkling, joyous laugh that was melodious and at that moment sounded just as divine as the singing of angels. To him it sounded just as natural as air, as natural as life and breathing. For a moment he thought it was a fake one, one she had put on just to get him a bit wound up. To make him feel like an idiot, really. But it wasn't at all. That was why it sounded so good. It sounded human. After years of being around Orochimaru, Kabuto and the mass of the Sound shinobi it sounded beautifully pure and real. He just couldn't get over it. The people he knew were no longer human, they were monsters. All of them, apart from this one girl.

"Because all you ever need in darkness is a little light, and it always makes things better." She said, capturing a different firefly and releasing it once more. It didn't seem to bother her that they were just bugs, or that their light wasn't really that strong. They gave her a little warmth, a little hope and joy with their light. He sort of, almost, just maybe understood what she meant, although he still didn't think her analogy would ever fit him. Because then, she would be a light as well. Because although she had waltzed into his life expected as he had gone to the trouble of tracking her down with his team, she had sworn at him and proclaimed that she hated him more than anyone, so much that if she ever got the chance she would kill him, she had shown him something else that was amazing in that short time. She had shown him human kindness. Kindness, not the sort where she was just out to gain something. She actually cared about him. Enough to say sorry. Enough to make things feel a little better, even if he had never actually wanted her to at all.

Enough to give him a little light.

* * *

Was that a mushy-mushy out of character Sasuke at the end, where Ino is actually starting to get to him? My Lord, my writing skill is deteriorating as the days pass by. He had changed from some big git to a lost little boy like Ino described him to be. So if you agree and think that I have gone to far, feel free to click the little x button at the top of the screen right now. It should make you feel a whole lot better. If not, do me a favour and write me a review? Some of them tend to make my day because they are so wonderful.

Reviews are loved. :)


	5. Flares

Note: Thank you to **Hey Fabulous** and **TheLextacyBlossom **for adding this to the list of their favourites, and another thank you to **Hey Fabulous**, **Saint Dezzie **and **TheLextacyBlossom **for alerting. I also thank **paper-wrists**,** Kent J. Williams**,** Super-Sweet**,** Bitter-Smoke**,** DarkSmile**,** TheLextacyBlossom**,** sad little monkey**,** beautifulgeek11**,** Katrina132**,** Hey Fabulous**,** Rainforestfrogs**,** thunder sister **and all of the anonymous reviewers. To **Saint Dezzie**, you are an exceptional guesser. The theme of this chapter is very close to one of your guesses, and later chapters happen to have some of the things you guessed at as those exact things. So congratulations to her. Anyway, I am now moving on to the writing, or it will never be started due to my babbling.

Warning(s): Bad language, heavily described gore, angst, brutal and probably unneeded butchering of Sasuke's character.

Summary: _Everyone needs a light, even if it's barely shining._

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Lights**

* * *

_**Flares**_

* * *

Ino stared at the object in her hand.

Distress flares were not commonly used amongst fighters in Konoha. If you fought and died, you died. If you had a medic on your team, why would you need flares anyway? On the brink of death if your medic died, you would not have enough strength to use one anyway. Or if you fought a particularly cruel enemy, perhaps even paralysed. To put it simply, there was no need for them. They were extra weight, and damn useless extra weight at that. But even so, she had accepted the one Sasuke had handed her. He had told her the training they would need to give her would be tougher than normal, which had made her rather annoyed because the training for the interrogation department was brutal and it made her effort sound wasted. She had taken it as an insult, thinking his mood with her was back to the usual. Unfortunately, she had assumed wrongly. This training would be the death of her, if she got caught that was.

Sasuke and his team had taken training to a whole new level. It consisted of splitting off without any partners whatsoever, and attacking a warlord who was staying in a summer home not far away from their campsite. Sasuke had been meaning to do it for some time apparently, as he was the warlord of Amegakure, the Rain village. Sasuke had claimed that the village had become unhinged with the new leaders it had, the leaders that had told him the truth. They needed the warlord they had appointed removed because he was supplying Konoha with weapons in secret, and by getting rid of him as Karin so eloquently put it would make their goal much easier to achieve. To her, it didn't sound much like training. It sounded like an assassination mission. She said nothing though, knowing it would help contribute towards the greater good. In all wars, blood was shed. Sometimes it was innocent blood, but the blood of the man they were to kill was anything but that. But somehow, it felt wrong. More than the first time she had killed someone, which after she had not gone on a mission for a month. It was a surreal feeling, leaving the body of someone else just as they died. She had never quite gotten over it.

_Ino, watch out. Karin can feel him coming your way, and he's not alone. _

She hissed. He was right. This was supposed to be helping her improve her skills, but she hadn't been paying attention at all. Ramming the flair back into her kunai pouch, she made rapid finger movements to create hand signs. First thing Sasuke had told her that morning. Genjutsu could be used effectively even when the opponent was not very close. It made things ever easier if they walked into a trap unknowingly, rather than having the chance to dispel a weak genjutsu or prevent themselves from being captured by it to begin with. This was usually good if you made the place look exactly the same as it had been, or near too it. Only good shinobi would see small flaws, and even then they might not realise that they had been captured like birds in cages. She hadn't really liked that expression. It reminded her of Neji.

But she didn't have time to think about him right then. She needed to dispel the small doubts she had with Sasuke, and the fairly larger doubts she had about her own abilities. She had no need to, really. She had been helped by Kurenai a huge amount in training her genjutsu after the baby had been born, as although Kurenai had resigned she had been more than happy to pass on her skills and Kurenai was a genjutsu master. Even so, she couldn't help but feel a little doubt when Sasuke was around. He had killed his own teacher, Orochimaru. Orochimaru had legendary skills, and her teacher couldn't possibly match up. He was much stronger than her, even if there was the possibility that her genjutsu was better than his. Compared to him, she was pathetically weak. Nothing but latent potential. She dissolved into flower petals, disregarding her thoughts in an instant. She needed to trust herself and Sasuke, or all of the things he had told her for this training exercise would not be of any use.

"Sir, your cherry blossom tree looks as though it is wilting. Should I have one of the servants replace it?" A male by the side of a man she recognised as the warlord said, looking to the man for some sign of an answer. The warlord looked at the pink petals on the floor, and Ino felt her pulse quicken. His face was blank, emotionless like that of only the most elite shinobi. He might have known that someone was there, that it was an illusion that someone had created. An illusion that she had created, to be exact. He could even feel her presence, which could have disastrous consequences. She'd been too speedy to hide herself, and in that she could have slipped up. She needed to watch herself. Accidents like that could get her killed, if hopefully not on that very day.

"No. This one has been here far too long. Let it be treated like a human, let it die before it has outlived the usefulness it still has." He regarded the tree fondly, as though it were an old friend. His kind glance lingering upon it unnerved her though. He might have known where she was, hiding away from his view in the branches and observing her genjutsu going to work. She still felt something was wrong about this. He just seemed like a kind old man, not the sort of person who would trade weapons and take part in war. Would that not be why he was appointed by those who were helping Sasuke? Surely he wanted peace? It made no sense, but she didn't want to think about it. She'd just told herself to trust Sasuke, so she would.

Even though her fingers were shaking, she moved them swiftly. The petals began to move around in the soft breeze of the garden that she had recreated, the place which the warlord seemed so fond of that would be the place where he would take his last breath. The pastel pink sakura blossoms that had been across the cobblestones began to rise, wrapping around the warlord. His companion finally seemed to sense what was happening. He shouted, drawing a hidden sword from under his light cotton robe. Companion? Make that bodyguard. Even so, she didn't want to kill him. She had no reason to, if he listened to her after this guy was gone.

The petals flew around rapidly, eventually becoming a hand that clutched him tightly. He was being dissolved, and although his bodyguard seemed highly distressed about it she couldn't stop. She needed to do it. Eventually, all that was left of the warlord was a few scraps of clothing on the path and some crimson coloured liquid that could only be one thing. Blood.

"Please run." Ino landed feet first on the floor, looking at the man with the drawn sword. He stared at her, his face gaunt and white. His thick eyebrows were raised in shock, his mouth open in a mixture of fear and surprise. He regained his composure easily though, anger flashing in his eyes and his teeth bared in a snarl at her. It did not appear to threaten him at all that she had just killed someone in a matter of seconds with seemingly harmless flower petals. He was loyal to his deceased master. He wanted revenge.

"What, so I'm not killed by you? You're a murdering monster! I'll cut you down!" He shouted, raising his sword. She froze, staring at him. Murdering monster? She'd only done her job, nobody seemed this angry about it before. Maybe that was because they'd never caught her, she didn't know. But she wasn't a murderer. She killed him because she needed to. She wasn't a monster, either. Monsters were the people who sealed the tailed beasts inside living humans, who helped start wars and let humans die for no reason because they saw them only as tools. They were the people who cut down others with ease, pretending they were animals or inanimate sacks of grain because that way it was easier. She wasn't a monster, was she? She couldn't be, it wasn't right. She never hurt anyone unless it was needed.

_I'm a monster, and he's going to slay the beast._

She closed her eyes, waiting for the blow. She didn't feel it hit her though. All she felt were small drips of liquid hitting her shoulder that felt like rain. Was she dead? She opened her eyes slowly, seeing only creaks of light. There was nothing in front of her, no man about to kill her. That water was making her shoulder cold. She brushed it off her shoulder, returning her hand to her side. Something caught her eye however, and she lifted her hand to see it. She was right. Her hand was painted scarlet with blood, but it wasn't her own. Looking up, she found her answer to her questions.

The genjutsu had been released, and the man had been impaled on a tree branch. The wood had been forced through his stomach, the blood rolling down the opposite direction towards the centre of the branch. The drips she had felt were coming from his splintered fingers. He was barely breathing, eyes wide and confused. She nearly screamed at the grotesque sight, but bit down on her tongue. Sasuke was standing on another branch by her other side, and he looked thoroughly uninterested in her at that moment.

"She's not a monster. I'm a monster. I can watch you die, but that girl can't. She cared about you enough to give you a chance to live because she can't stomach death, because she can't stand watching someone die so easily. I can. So I think you owe her an apology for trying to hurt her when she tried to save you. But I think she'll understand that you're in too much pain to say sorry if you can't manage it, so why not write it on the wood of this tree in your blood?" Sasuke seemed absorbed in talking to the man. But she had seen the light leave his eyes, and she knew that it was already too late to get what Sasuke seemed to want her to have. She stared at him a moment, half interested and half disgusted. She knew that he had changed, but to be so brutal to someone who was about to kill her seemed a bit unnecessary. Sure, she didn't mind that he'd just saved her, but dying that way was brutal. All that seemed to trigger it on top of that was a single word that she had reacted to.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry. I screwed up." She whispered, averting her gaze. She stared at the floor, suddenly feeling ashamed and unworthy. There was something about him now that worried her, perhaps even frightened her a little. He had just said he was a monster, just defended her humanity and it seemed that his words were true. Doing that to a man would have taken sheer brute strength and to do it so quickly he would have had to been going at a speed faster than she had seen Rock Lee go at without his weights. Was he a monster, or was he just some sort of God? Either way, he certainly wasn't human, although he had just proven her humanity with his actions. That felt wrong. Sickeningly wrong.

"All humans made errors." He said simply, looking down at her from where he was standing. She looked up, onyx eyes meeting cerulean blue in an instant. He looked away though, him becoming the one to avoid her gaze instead of the other way around. It was strange how he acted, and even stranger the way he treated her. With Neji, he just cared about her. He defended her; he protected her and made sure that she was never in too much danger. Sasuke let her screw up, he let her get in danger and then within an instant became the hero in a situation in which she had unintentionally made herself the damsel in distress. She'd compared them, but they were so different. At least Sasuke hadn't abandoned her, leaving her with S-rank criminals and believing traitors over her. Oh, wait. It was Sasuke who was the treacherous criminal. So why did it feel like Neji was the traitor? A lump caught in her throat. She'd at least thought Neji cared enough to listen to her. He'd done that before. He'd comforted her at her worst times. He'd taken her at her worst, and he sure as Hell deserved her at her best. But somehow, it didn't seem he wanted her although she had made her feelings for him pretty obvious at most times they were alone together. That was it. He didn't want her at all. But maybe Sasuke did.

"What is human but a carbon-based ape descendant?" Ino questioned, still staring at him. His face showed that he was stunned, although he wiped that expression off before he thought she could see it. He shook his head. He finally met her eyes again. Pain rose in her chest. He looked sad. So very, very sad. Almost as though he could cry. Yet it was his normal vacant expression on his face, with the same blank onyx eyes that gave nothing away. He'd been so busy hiding from the world, she had the feeling he didn't know. He didn't say anything.

Instead, he concentrated on the flare sticking out of her pocket. It shone a light when lit, a light that shone in the air for all around to see it. A sign of hope that someone was still alive, that someone was still out there, that someone was still existing who was enjoying their life. They wanted to be saved. They wanted to share their dreams and prayers with others, and try to understand what other people cared about too. Ino was like that. She was a living dream, the answer to the prayers he had long thought ignored and she was hope. Living, breathing, pure and innocent hope that he was still human. Human, like he had wanted to think he was again for a long time. Perhaps even since Orochimaru gave him the curse seal. Sure, he no longer relied on it, but it was still there. He needed to maintain his sanity, to keep going, to stay alive and simply breathe like humans did. With that thought, he couldn't take his eyes off her. She had gone and done it. She had gotten to him, just like he hadn't wanted her to.

By being his light, she was being his humanity.

* * *

The team Neji could see assembled around him was almost perfect.

Neji glanced around the faces of his comrades. Kakashi was acting as he always did, clearly immersed in the dirty little orange book as they waited. At least he hadn't been late, for once. He couldn't tell how Shino was feeling about the situation as his face was hidden like normal, but if his cousin and the dog boy separated by him standing between them were any indication their look of being on edge was the same one he had. Sakura, Naruto and Sai were standing by Kakashi, none of them uttering a word. Sai had not been asked to come, but then again neither had the team mates of the blonde girl they were planning to retrieve. Shikamaru and Chouji looked equally troubled, and they were not the only ones. Tenten and Lee had heard about it somehow too, and although they were clearly concerned about Ino he could feel that they were far more concerned about him. They hadn't been asked to come either. This many people would slow them down. He let out a sigh. He couldn't really tell them to go, as he doubted they would listen. They all cared far too much. Just like him.

"I take it you all planned this, so I am assuming that Shikamaru has a plan." He said, and Shikamaru nodded. They had. They could get themselves killed on this mission, even be torn apart, but none of them seemed to care. They were there for one or two reasons each. The first was to bring back Ino, and the second was to retrieve Sasuke. It was insane, really, how many people could be drawn together to retrieve just two people.

"Don't get carried away." Kakashi waved as he walked off down the path, and Neji stared at his back. He knew Kakashi was leading the mission, but he was walking off. In the completely wrong direction, seeing as he was heading down a different path to the one they were supposed to take to reach the area where the team he had assembled barely a week ago now had been camping. He bit the insults about Kakashi being incompetent for someone on the same level as him, barely managing to remain civilised. He did not seem to be taking any of this seriously at all. Maybe it was because Sasuke had ignored his little speech on why he should have stayed in Konoha all those years ago.

"Where are you going?" Naruto shouted loudly, relieving Neji of his question. The silver haired man stopped walking away, and then shuffled around to face them. He looked as blank as ever, a clear expression of being unfazed on his face. It was clear what he thought. They were acting like idiots not to know.

"To see Anko. She's on a mission she might need some help with near Suna. Why?" He said, as if he was stating an obvious fact. Naruto growled, Sakura placing a hand on his shoulder calmly to stop him from attacking their old teacher right there and then. Neji supposed she could understand what was going on, but he certainly did not. Kakashi had always been a difficult person to understand, but maybe being on Team Seven in the past had helped them figure out more about him then he ever would.

"We need to bring back Sasuke; you're part of Team Seven too!" Naruto hollered at the top of his voice, although Kakashi didn't seem in the slightest phased by it. He lowered the book in front of his masked face, his dark eyes watching them all carefully. He looked almost as though he were smiling in a few seconds after, his eyes shining. But Neji couldn't tell, the mask hid his mouth, just as it had always done.

"I know. But I don't need to bring back the Yamanaka girl. That's a job that belongs to Neji, Shikamaru and Chouji." Kakashi replied, then promptly turned his back on the group again and began to walk off. Sakura sighed, ramming a hand over the mouth of Naruto before he could begin his verbal barrage again. She clearly had a feeling that he would say that, and Neji could understand why. Kakashi was an intelligent man who learned from the past. History could always repeat itself, and if Sasuke didn't want to come back there was a possibility Ino certainly didn't want to either. If history repeated itself again, Naruto would be defeated regardless of his training and Ino would win against whoever she fought if Sasuke had been helping her lately. When it came down to it, there was no point in trying to retrieve either of them. Kakashi had it all figured out from the beginning, the entire story of what the rest of the group (all but Shino at least) hadn't been told. Ino didn't get lost or abducted; she didn't want to come back. Logic stated there was barely any point in even trying, so he had other things to spend time on that actually wouldn't be a waste.

"Why me?" Neji whispered to himself, although he already knew the answer. Kakashi didn't reply, and he hoped that he hadn't heard him for that reason. Ino had been the one to protest against the head of the Hyuga when she heard that Hinata could be stopped from being a kunoichi, although they did not value her opinion. She had stood for hope when she finally ended up arguing with Hiashi so loudly that the entire village heard her powerful words. Ino had been the one who had trained Hanabi in genjutsu each day, ignoring the protests of the Hyuga clan no matter how much trouble it had caused her, even insisting that the Godaime need not get involved as it was not her problem, because Hanabi had asked for help, and Ino had never been one to deny that from anyone. Not even after Sakura had thrown it back in her face so many years ago. She had protected the underdogs in society, helped them hide their weaknesses and helped to make them stronger. She had stood for humanity by helping them, showing that kindness could go a long way. Maybe that was why he had been drawn to her a few months ago.

It had been in the dead of the night. There had been rumours of Hiashi retiring as the head of the clan, and it had put so much stress on Hinata she had been trying to throw the position to someone else. Hanabi was too young, so she would be completely disregarded if the rumours were true. Which left no main branch straight heirs that actually met the specific requirements needed, meaning they needed to delve into the branch house. That would cause an uproar, especially seeing as the only one who met the requirements of the Hyuga for becoming their leader was him. Neji Hyuga, the kid with the caging seal, who had managed to outdo all of their expectations for someone in the branch house. It would give him a sense of justice, but most people in the Hyuga family would hate it. Civil war could even break out in their household, the family being divided by their either traditional or more relaxed beliefs. In the depth of the darkness he had slipped out of the Hyuga compound knowing that, and immediately gone to a nearby abandoned field to train.

What he hadn't expected was to find the blonde bombshell he had previously encountered there. He knew of her arguments with the Hyuga, and her reputation for creating minor disasters any time but when she was on a mission preceded her. She was probably one of the people he never would have talked to, if not for that chance meeting. He had planned to ignore her, to sit in the tree and relax so his thoughts wouldn't render him completely insane. What he hadn't known was that his thoughts wouldn't need to. She had talked to him with her mind, and she had been able to hear his thoughts. A disturbing thing to be able to do, really, but she seemed to think of it as some sort of gift. By the end of the night, she had known everything about him even though he hadn't wanted her to. He didn't begrudge her for it, though. Infact, he had felt somewhat relieved. For the first time in so many years, someone had comforted him. Told him that everything would be ok. Rumours were only rumours after all, so there was no reason to worry. When you could sit back and watch the stars on a night like that, dotting the sky and watching over them all, you could believe in anything you wanted. It made life easier. That had been what she had thought, and she had been right. After that, he had someone to open up to. That was the closest thing he ever had to understanding, and somewhere along the way after they agreed to meet again, surprisingly on his request a week from then. From that moment onwards, their meetings had continued for a fairly long time. Even when they ended, he would see her around and she'd greet him with a knowing smile. A happy, secure, warming smile that would help him forget all of his troubles. It was too easy to like her, really. It was too easy to fall for her, too. Because somewhere along the way, he knew he had gone and done it. Otherwise he wouldn't need her so badly the way he did now, even knowing that she probably wouldn't accept that.

Kakashi threw him a flare whilst he was musing, and he barely caught it. He looked at the thing, wondering why he had been given the object. He had no use for it. It was bulky and it got in the way of most things, only really helping to slow people down. They hadn't been used for a long time, not since medics had been introduced to teams anyway to lower the morality rate of Konoha shinobi. Those thoughts dwindled away though, leaving him with only one thought. Ino was like a flare. She shone bright, so brightly all those around her couldn't help but being drawn to her although they were well aware that light could be a sign of a disaster waiting to happen. A disaster like him managing to love her. The disaster didn't feel so bad though, for some reason. The disaster felt more right, like it was a good disaster.

The disaster felt like his new light.

* * *

Sasuke knew that something was off.

Something strange was happening. When he had risen that very morning, something felt different. Something felt wrong. Like something was going to happen, something strange waiting in the wings of a staged play that was in store for him, as he was the character made for something unnecessary like comic relief in a tragedy. Maybe it was Ino making him feel like that. She hadn't said a word since the fiasco the previous day that had been her training. Or maybe it was just that they had been camping in the spot they were currently at for well over a week, although his plan was ready for action as soon as they were on the move again. He watched the slowly rising sun. The sky was a mix of pastel paints, oranges and peaches. Yellows, pale and soft like her hair.

"_What is human but a carbon-based ape descendant?"_

The words echoed in his head like chiming bells. But the chiming bells were loud and off-key, because he knew that he shouldn't be thinking about her. It was far too dangerous. It had barely been a week since she had unwillingly joined them, and he was becoming attached to the novelty she was. The novelty of her humanity. She was so unlike him, able to brutally murder. When had it all gone wrong? It hadn't been when he had left Konoha. Power had helped him. But maybe that power wasn't good, if it had made him like this? He let out a low growl. Doubting himself had never been one thing he liked. He was always confident, always powerful, always a genius, always the best there was, always elite.

She had been just another annoyance in the past. Clinging to him unnecessarily, her fighting with his pink-haired team mate being distracting and aggravating. She had always tried to keep herself close to him back then, making a point of how well loved she had been at the academy with each sniping sentence aimed at forehead-girl as she had named her once best friend. She had been the Queen Bee, adored by many. He had been the most popular boy the academy had. It was only natural they would be together. But they weren't. She'd been secretly self conscious, clinging to whoever was closest to ignore her weakness. She was nothing like him, and never would be. Or so he had thought. Was he not the one who now wanted to run to her, let her hold him and tell him that she forgave everything he had done? Forgiveness had never been something he had wanted, although he had done many terrible things. All he had wanted was revenge.

She was changing him, and he knew it. He could feel it. She was too good for their entire team of freaks he had assembled, too perfectly human. She was everything he had been at some point when he had been almost happy with what he had. She was intelligent, precise, merciful, caring, strong, everything that a human could be. As much as he despised that, he craved it. He craved her human weakness, her compassion and her love. The flares he had given her were for safety because of that human weakness, so that he could go to her and stop her from being harmed. She hadn't used them, being stubborn as she was, but he had still rushed to her aid. The monster had still saved the human.

"_What is human but a carbon-based ape descendant?"_

He hadn't known how to answer when she said it. He hadn't had a clue. But now, he was pretty sure. A human was someone able to give hope. Someone able to show care. Someone who showed mercy to their enemies, and compassion to those who had done wrong. Someone able to care for any life, whether it be that of an insignificant person in the street they fought for as a shinobi in their everyday life or a warlord they had to assassinate. Someone able to show kindness to everyone, regardless of anything they had done. A human was someone able to love. A human was a beacon, a sign of something that had gone wrong at some point like a flare but could be easily fixed. A human was a sign of something good.

A human was a light.

* * *

I have officially ruined Sasuke with the Ino-humanity thing. Joy. If it makes you feel better, do as I advised in the previous chapter and exit this page right now before Sasuke is even more brutalised. Because my dear **thunder sister**, I am sure you are not the only one finding yourself rooting for Sasuke somehow. I know a few people who are reading this are. I am just wondering if this is a problem, as it was not intentional. I just wanted to have a bit of sympathy for him. Damn. Anyway, thank you to **TheLextacyBlossom **and** Ino-Gaara **at the community _White Sky, Blue Ocean_ for adding this. It is a good Neji x Ino community, so I recommend checking it out. But I am unsure if this will remain to the original plan now, as many people seem to now be rooting for Sasuke to win Ino's heart. Never mind, maybe I should have a vote on it in which Neji x Ino will hopefully win? Probably not, but thinking about it right now might be a good idea for me, eh? Moving on, I hope all of the readers have enjoyed this chapter regardless of the flaws in characterisation.

Reviews are loved. :)

* * *


	6. Fireworks

Note: Thank you to **Crystalsoul Jutsu**,** Icezera**,** Saint Dezzie**,** babywhat **and **huskieher0 **for adding this to your favourites list, and another thank you to **Crystalsoul Jutsu**,** Demonic Angel Clone**,** Icezera **and **Marie Hana **for alerting this.Last but not certainly not least,thank you to** Kent J. Williams**,** Super-Sweet**, **Bitter-Smoke**, **Hey Fabulous**, **paper-wrists**, **beautifulgeek11**, **9-DArK-Moon-4**, **Demonic Angel Clone**, **TheLextacyBlossom**, **Saint Dezzie**, **fallenmad**, **DarkSmile**, **Katrina132**, **Icezera**, **LovelessGirl101** and all the anonymous reviewers. Thank you all so much! It makes me happy to know that so many people like this and can offer constructive criticism for my work.

Warning(s): Bad language, angst, brutal and probably unneeded butchering of Sasuke's character which may or may not be for the greater good.

Summary: _Everyone needs a light, even if it's barely shining._

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Lights**

* * *

**_Fireworks_**

* * *

Ino stared up at the dark sky.

Something felt off, although she wasn't quite sure what. It wasn't just because she was tired, or that she was hungry. Something was wrong. Very frighteningly, disastrously wrong and she hated that for the life of her she just couldn't figure out what it was. Maybe it was just that they were on the move. They'd been on the move since that morning, and it was probably starting to take a toll on her. The weight of the responsibility she carried was heavy, although she refused to think of it as a burden. It was something important that needed to be done for the greater good, and if she didn't help Sasuke do it she didn't know who damn else would.

In two days at the latest, she would be joining him (as well as Juugo, Karin and Suigetsu) in an attempt to destroy what had once been her home. If it failed, she would be a traitor. If it succeeded, she would still be a traitor but she'd also be a hero. She would have saved her home from the treacherous situation it was in with those who ran it, the elders and the Godaime. They hadn't thought of the shinobi they cared for only as tools, they hadn't thought of them as humans and the most disgusting things had happened because of it. Even more terrible things were probably going on right at that moment too, right under all of their noses.

She was worried about it. Who wouldn't be? A five woman and man team against an entire village, most of which was strong. Her generation was one of the strongest since the legendary three were raised, if not the strongest. Perhaps they would even surpass them. It was likely, with the rate of progress they had right now. Sasuke had killed Orochimaru, so that was one down. Then the Akatsuki had killed Jiraiya, so that was two. The only one left was the mentor who had chosen her rival over her, and seemed to ignore her second pupil completely. She only gave Ino minor training, nothing like what she wanted. Bitter thoughts filled her head as she thought of Tsunade in a new light. She didn't deserve her title. She was a pathetic excuse for a woman, her only strong point being her medical prowess. She never cared much for Ino, so Ino would no longer care for her. She was an evil woman anyway, allowing the things that happened to do so. She was a liar, a gambler and a drinker and even with all those reasons Ino managed to dislike her but not hate her like she wanted to. She'd been around the woman for far too long, and trying to hate her was difficult, regardless of all the terrible qualities she had. Far more difficult than she had expected.

She briefly wondered if he felt the same. About his friends, that was. His team. Team Seven. Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto. Kakashi, his teacher. The one who took a special interest in him, trained him and cared for him, told him not to leave. Sakura, she was just a girl. An average girl, who didn't even have a shinobi lineage. Ino had once been jealous of her, though. Jealous that someone, some_thing_ like her, could ever be put on the same team as the wonderful Sasuke. That thing, who had been her best friend, then ruined everything on a rumour. She hated that thing so much, so, so, much it had felt like her heart would burst. But had she really? She still took her back after their fight in the first exam they took. Even though she had made Ino fail. Even though she still had Sasuke. Even though it felt like she was beginning to lose to the pathetic thing. Then, there was Naruto. Naruto, with his sunshine smiles, loud mouth and boisterous attitude. Naruto, who for what it was worth, she didn't care about containing a demon. She liked him. He was such a happy person, and so caring. He was still fighting to bring Sasuke back, training and pushing himself. Putting himself through so much pain each day, and for what? For this boy to be forced to return, and for them to pretend that everything was normal again? She didn't understand, she knew that. But maybe she could see more than Team Seven ever had about them just by looking at them from the outside with a new perspective on the entire situation. But still, even with all their flaws being some of the most hilariously weak things she'd ever seen, she still had to wonder. She knew she felt like she would miss her team mates if she knew this situation would be permanent. So did Sasuke? She glanced at him beside her a moment, contemplating the idea.

_You know, the truth is Ino; I miss them more than you could ever imagine._

She smiled to herself. He'd known what she was thinking. She needed to be more careful about her thoughts from now on, really. She couldn't have him knowing too much, even if he was so good. He might take some things the completely wrong way, or the right way when she didn't want him to. But she was happy to know that. Content to know that although he had broken his bonds, as he put it, he missed them. He missed Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto. That small thing cheered her up considerably, and she found new energy to carry on walking regardless of the fact that Karin seemed to be glaring daggers in her back.

_Bitch. Who do you think you are, stealing my Sasuke-kun?_

At that thought, she laughed before stopping. Sasuke turned to look when he felt her stop moving beside him, and as a result the rest of the group came to a standstill. Ino rounded on Karin, a dark fire in her eyes. Karin matched it with equal intensity, and Ino smirked at her icily. She had the upper hand here. She knew what her opponent was thinking. Juugo was watching her carefully for any signs of sudden movement, ready to stop her. Suigetsu seemed to find the fact that Karin loathed someone just as much as him amusing, and a shark-like grin was on his face. He let out a small chuckle, clearly finding the situation funny.

"One-sided love is something hurtful, you know. It is only a burden to the other person, even if you think you adore them with all your heart. For the record, I don't want him either." Ino beamed, her pearly teeth flashing in a wide grin. Karin glared at the woman in front of her, her eyes flashing dangerously before she let out a screech and promptly lunged forward. Ino, already having been in enough catfights knew that was coming though, and inched out of the way. The redhead spun wildly on one foot in the air before almost falling. Juugo caught one of her arms, pulling a flushing Karin to her feet.

"I never thought I'd find someone I hate more than Suigetsu. How can one-sided love be a burden if it protects someone? I love him with all my heart, but can you say the same?" She spat, and Ino raised both eyebrows in mockery. Had Karin not heard her declare that she didn't want him? She looked at the boy in the middle of the situation, who was just watching intently as he stood on the spot. He didn't seem to care about intervening. Useless idiot, she'd come to expect that from men.

"I already told you I don't want him. It's a burden, having to deal with the actions of a person who loves you. Awkward, having to be near them, having to know all they want is you when you don't want them. It's hurtful, really." Ino breathed, still staring at him. He finally met her eyes, an understanding feeling washing between them. Her love so long ago had been one-sided, and all she had done was succeed in annoying him and nothing else. Pressing herself against him, wanting him more than anything, even though he had not wanted her. She had hurt herself in the process too, knowing that he didn't want her. But she wanted someone knew now, and she could feel it. She didn't want to admit it, and she hadn't wanted to for a long time but perhaps it was right to do so. She might never have the chance to tell him, if this failed. She just hoped, no matter how trivial it was or how dangerous it would be for them both that it would be ok. Because if she didn't make it out of this alive, she'd die with regrets. She would never wish that on somebody. Never.

Finally, Sasuke spoke. He looked up at the sky and she looked up with him. Juugo stared up too, and they saw the multitude of colours explode in the air before the loud bang rang out. Karin and Suigetsu jumped, the latter forgetting the argument that had just erupted in an instant. Or so it seemed, at least. A wan sort-of smile was on Sasuke's lips. It was getting close, it was a wonder she had forgot. A festival was happening at home that week. The fireworks were breaking out all over the Konoha sky, dizzying bright lies showering the sky brighter than the stars. A churning sensation came up in her stomach. When they returned, it would be no cause for celebration. Looking at Sasuke, he seemed happy too. She could stay lost in that moment forever. It would have been easy, to say no, to not move on. For things to remain as they were. But the fireworks were lighting the way to Konoha, a road she would travel with Sasuke and his team. Illuminating the path to her future.

Illuminating the path to their future.

* * *

Neji supposed he should have been worried.

The campsite had been found, where it had assumed they had been staying. It had been over an hour ago, and their tracks were still fresh. Whilst his team had been going towards it, Ino and the criminals had gone away from it. It was too late, but Akamaru had scouted ahead and it seemed they were going back to Konoha. It generated an uneasy feeling, but even with more people their team was faster. According to the scent Kiba said was there, and Akamaru was confirming with them were three people with the same scent all those who had been around the Sound had, especially those near Orochimaru. Of those still alive, the only ones who had been sited with Sasuke were three people known as Juugo, Suigetsu and Karin. Karin was a tracker and a healer, not really made for much fighting so she would be faster presumably. But from the information they had, they knew Suigetsu had a large sword which would encumber him greatly and Juugo was the one who led to the generation of the cursed seal, and was prone to violent outbursts. That would certainly slow them all down, and give the large group with him time to catch them up.

Shikamaru looked more worried than him, which was beginning to make him feel uneasy however. He was told that yes, they were faster than the other group. But they were already far gone, and by the time they caught up even if they went ten minutes from then without stopping then it would be tough timing. A likely situation was that they would see them, with Ino, just as they reached Konoha. They would probably be there at almost exactly the same time, which could make things difficult if a fight were to break out. If Sasuke was with them like Neji said, not that they distrusted his words, but it would make things difficult.

Sasuke would not willingly return, they knew that. Especially not with an entire team. Which meant either that they were taking Ino there for some reason such as a ransom. That was completely unneeded though, so the idea of it was ruled out. This meant that Sasuke and the team with him were likely to be launching an attack on Konoha, that although also seemed very unlikely was the most likely thing to be happening. But in that case, why did they need Ino for it? Something was missing from the plot, and even the genius strategist Shikamaru couldn't quite figure out the last piece of the puzzle. Neji didn't like that fact in the slightest.

Then he saw the fireworks. He would have smiled in a better situation, knowing they were above Konoha. Their fireworks display at a certain festival this time of year was known far and wide for being stunning, but he had never really seen it for some reason or the other. He'd always missed it, and now he could see why they said that it was so beautiful. One day, he would ask Ino to watch this with him. These beautiful lights erupting in the sky like volcanoes, those that had been thought to be dormant but were breathing new life with their outbursts. Ino would probably laugh, and he'd say they weren't as breathtaking as her no matter how gorgeous they were. He thought about it for a few seconds before coming to a decision. If they reached the gates and everything was fine, he'd ask Ino to go to the next festival with him. Regardless of his family, his pride or anything else. He wanted her on his arm at that moment, sharing something wonderful with him. But for now, the fireworks would illuminate his path back home.

They would illuminate his path back to Ino.

* * *

Sasuke had to say it.

"You're changing me." He stated, making her jump. They'd found a new place to make a camp for the night, and after they'd set it up she'd immediately grabbed a blanket and sat down near the fire to watch the remaining fireworks. She wasn't in a kimono, she didn't have a festival mask or all the comfort of her home, but it didn't seem to bother her. As long as she had the small pleasure of watching something that she loved, she didn't care.

She didn't have time to offer him a spot beside her before he sat down. He couldn't get her earlier words out of his head. _I already told you I don't want him_.Did she really not want him? He couldn't help but wonder why not, really. He was all she had ever wanted, wasn't he? She'd always wanted him. Ever since day one of the academy when they were five years old, with a younger blushing Sakura constantly at her side. When that idiotic rumour had gone around that he liked girls with long hair, she'd immediately started to grow her hair out. Sakura had too, but he noticed it on her now more than ever.

When he'd seen Sakura a few months back, her hair was still short. Not as messy and unkempt as it had been before where she had cut it off haphazardly with her kunai and Ino had attempted to fix it up for her (a reason for which he couldn't find other than caring for her deep down still) because it had been cut neatly and she appeared to be keeping it clean, but it was still short nonetheless. Had she simply given up on him? It didn't appear so, the way she muttered his name, still with the honorific as she stared up at him against the too blue sky. It was too sunny a day for something as miserable as seeing him again to happen, really. Not that it seemed to bother her. But she seemed to care about Naruto a lot more now, and they had replaced him with some odd kid in a belly top.

But Ino had let her hair grow out. She had been the one to cut off her own hair to use it in a trap, faking anger in a fight over him. She'd used it to capture Sakura, which he had to admit was clever at the time, and use her jutsu. She'd clearly mourned the loss of it, however. Her hair was a part of her, something that just was. It was always there, swaying in the wind and shining in the sun. It stuck to her back when it rained, and she took great comfort in knowing that it was something that she could keep beautiful. But why? She didn't need it long to do that. She could do that with it any length. Why keep it long, like they'd thought he liked it all that time ago? He couldn't think of a reason other than attachment to him, unless someone else liked it. But the only person she seemed attached to enough from what he could gather was Neji, and he was too stoic to pay attention to her. He'd heard after the exams all that time ago that Ino had tried to seduce him, and he shot her down without a second thought. She'd been laughed at by Sakura for weeks after she found that out from Shikamaru, who never thought about loose lips. He'd seen him with a black eye for that, which he supposed was from Ino. But Neji Hyuga wouldn't take an interest in her. He couldn't, it just wouldn't be right. Even if with his own eyes, he'd seen Neji run when he'd kissed Ino. Ino wouldn't want a man with longer and prettier hair then her, sure, but he doubted she'd keep it long for someone with a stick so far up his arse he would need a deadly operation to take it out. Then again, was Sasuke one to talk? He was practically unapproachable, and he knew it. So he asked, not knowing what to expect for an answer.

"I keep it long because that's how I like it, and what do you mean I'm changing you?" She said quietly, playing with the end of her hair absently as she watched one of the brightest of the salmon pink firework they had seen that night scatter downwards until the sparks faded in the darkness, the light dying out just as quick as it had shone for them. He tugged gently on the blanket covering her, and she whined. He gave her no heed though, finally gently managing to tug one end out of her hand and wind it halfway around himself. It was big enough for the both of them, he reasoned. Even if they were slightly too close for what seemed she cared for. His arm was pressing against hers slightly, her head nudged close to his shoulder and he supposed it could of seemed like a romantic situation. She didn't seem to want to think about it though, trying instead to concentrate on the next emerald green firework that had exploded above them.

"You're making me more human." He breathed, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. She fidgeted, letting go of the other side of the blanket and twiddling her thumbs. She clearly felt the same way as he was beginning to feel. He'd gone and put them both in a bad situation and he'd been stupid to do so but there was no going back then. It'd already been done, and that couldn't be changed. He sighed in agitation, almost ashamed of himself. He was becoming strange. It was almost like he was beginning to feel that if he saved that one person, cared for her, maybe even loved her and looked her in the eyes being unable to kill her he would be what he so desperately wanted to be again instead of being a monster. Human, disgusting and weak and pathetic and human. He wanted it so badly, and for the life of him he just didn't know why he wanted it so much. It would make him almost useless.

"Human?" She asked, clearly surprised. Her hushed tone became a voice of intense shock instantly. Her eyes suddenly torn from the brightly coloured fireworks in the night sky, she was staring at him so wonderingly that he could almost feel the holes burning through his clothes and into his flesh where her eyes loomed. She was scanning him for something, anything, which would make him appear inhuman to begin with. He normally would have found it amusing, to tell the truth. But now it was different. She knew what he was like, she knew about his cursed seal and all his problems, and she had accepted him anyway. She was beginning to change him, change him for better or worse. Which one he could not decide, but either way he felt that he couldn't say. But because of her, he would be changed for good.

"You know, when you're a criminal, you get some sort of routine. You kill, you get paid for it, you begin to forget what you're killing is human just like you and that it feels just as you can. You begin to forget what it means to be human, because you don't want to think that one day someone could do the same to you as you have done to someone else. But usually, you have one thing to cling to. One thing to keep you sane, that keeps you human." His dark eyes swivelled and landed on her. She swallowed the lump building in her throat before him, her own eyes looking misty and clouded instead of the usual bold blue. He almost felt like he was starting to frighten her, but she didn't move away and he had the feeling she would of. Either that, or she would have said something about it.

_I need you. _

He hadn't meant to think it. It was just something that came to his mind, and it shook him more than it seemed to shake her. She stood up instantly, her eyes still making her look frightened. If she was going to walk away, she could have at least done it with the rest of her face looking fierce and unattached. Instead, she looked vulnerable. So very small, weak and vulnerable and he didn't like it at all. It wasn't really a confession, he knew that. But he hadn't meant for it to be, and it sounded slightly like one. It wasn't an _I want you_, or an _I love you_, but it was something. He needed her. Without her, something would feel like it was missing. She was supposed to just be some stupid tool, a strong one at that, something he could use to shatter the Godaime and believe him. He supposed she was, almost. She could be anything in a random toolbox. But without her, that toolbox would be empty. It would be incomplete, a nothing. Without her, it was unusable. Unneeded. Useless. A deformity of what was right and proper about that item, the thing it done. Without that tool, it became a monster.

She moved quickly away to her tent, and he didn't bother to stop her. A million words could be said, and they still wouldn't be enough. Nothing could tell her how much he needed her, a little piece of sanity, something that was human by his side. Even if it was only for a while, that short time could last forever if he wanted it to. But he'd have to let her go eventually. Even if he needed her, she didn't need him. A lost tool could be found and put inside a different toolbox, used to fix something else entirely. Used to fix something that wasn't the village that would soon be attacked, the place that had once been his home. Used to fix something, no, someone. Someone like Neji.

For once in his short life, Sasuke felt a pang of jealousy. She'd only wanted to protect him. Wasn't that why even after hearing the story, she'd asked him not to hurt him? Despite being in tears, not knowing what to believe was true, that had been the one thing she wanted. For a single person, someone who Sasuke previously didn't give a damn about, to be able to breathe by the time they were done. To be fully alive. Would she want the same for him, if the roles of the Uchiha and Hyuga had been reversed? He didn't know. That didn't bear thinking about. Disregarding his thoughts, he watched the remaining fireworks. He knew what he would do. If she didn't want to stay with him, he'd destroy Neji. Then she would have to. He'd say it was an accident, get Juugo to do it or something. Avoid a direct fight. Then she'd run to him, she'd forget everything wrong he was doing if she found out and it would all be fine. It would all be perfect. As long as she was still there to keep retain his little shreds of humanity, the very ones she had given back to him by making him care. Like the last dying firework exploding in the sky, Neji would be removed.

Then Sasuke's path would be illuminated by Ino once more.

* * *

Oh, it is becoming so twisted by angsty!Sasuke. I hope this made you all hate Sasuke a little, because I have decided not to have a vote. Although many people like Sasuke in this, a greater majority still seem to like Neji and the original plan could be in tatters if I change it. Especially the ending, which is slightly violent and sure to be coming your way at some point if you are reading this. This may or may not be the penultimate chapter, just so you are warned. In which case, if it is, I am amazed at myself. If not, still only two more chapters and an epilogue to come. It depends if the ending is split up or not. Anyway, moving on. I hope you enjoyed this latest instalment, my little duckies. Until next time.

Reviews are loved. :)


	7. Match

Note: Thank you to all those who have reviewed, favourited, alerted, everything on this. Finally, the long awaited final chapter is here, and late because my internet broke. Even so, I hope you all enjoy it and keep your eyes open for the epilogue.

Warning(s): Bad language, angst, slightly extreme violence.

Summary: _Everyone needs a light, even if it's barely shining._

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Lights**

* * *

**_Match_**

* * *

Ino had received many precious gifts in her life.

A loving father, full of praise and hope and happiness, wanting anything and everything for his little girls. Her team mates too, even if she rarely told them so. They knew it, she was sure. Even if Shikamaru was lazy and Chouji ate far too much for it to be good for him, it wasn't like they were the worst team mates. Infact, to her, they were the best. If she had Sasuke on her team that day all those years ago, he probably still would have left. Ino would probably not have been able to handle it as well as Sakura, and she wouldn't have been able to bloom into a flower just as strong as her best friend because she'd forget herself and try to save the defeated Naruto instead. If she had Neji, she would not have been able to stand him everyday like Tenten did. Sure, she liked him, maybe even loved him, but when they were younger he was even more cold than he could be. Lee? Well, he was kind, but he was steadily eating himself into an early death. His muscles were corroding too quickly, and he'd long given up on the idea of youth but it was clear he still needed to cling to something so he pretended he still had that to believe in. She didn't even want to get started on the team of poor, dear Hinata. The perverted dog boy and the silent bug guy were clearly unhygienic. So yes, she had the best team mates. Even if she didn't tell them.

Finally, another one of the brilliant things she had received was the reappearance of Sasuke. She might not have noticed it straight away, when he had appeared in front of her with a burnt out tea light in hand and a group of deluded mental people (excluding Juugo, who was supposedly the most insane but didn't really present much harm most of the time) then telling her how he remembered her being louder. She'd screamed, of course. She hated the bastard, to be honest. She hated him so much she could see him dying in front of her eyes back then, and she would have laughed and gathered a group of children to play with his corpse like it was an oversized toy. She'd have them beat it with sticks, pull out the brains with wires and mummify it. Oh, what fun that would be back then. But she had been so wrong about him, so wrong about everything. He was a blessing in disguise, a beautiful, stunning God who shone a light so bright it drew everyone in. His followers were merely a congregation who worshipped it, drew strength from it. But what did he think of her as?

_I need you. _He'd thought it without a doubt. They both knew it, and he hadn't said a word to her since. Suigetsu had joked it was a lovers quarrel that morning, which nobody laughed at. Karin didn't even bother to raise a hand to punch him in anger. Either she'd given up, or something was wrong. Ino was more inclined to believe the latter. Nobody felt like jokes that morning. Jokes were for sunny days with childish daydreams, days with gentle (but musky smelling, cough creating) white clouds from Asuma's cigarettes drifting around and days with Neji on missions coming back and simply being alive. Happy, joyful, light-filled days. Everything that morning wasn't, with a camp hidden just enough in the forest by the Konoha walls for them not to be detected. With missions that she wasn't needed to help pull off. With missions that might not have the possibility of no light being in their lives again, due to the high chance that all they would ever see again was darkness as they slipped into endless, waiting oblivion that they had been avoiding for so long.

"Ino." Sasuke said quickly, her name rushed and foreign-sounding when it reached her ears. She stared from the very edge of the forest at the gates to her old home, preparing herself to enter with some cock-and-bull story they had concocted. She could sell it to them easily, she knew. All those idiots, from those brash males at the gate with their weak minds to Ibiki Morino who would surely question where she had been without any real idea about it. Oh, what a group of lightless fools. Their existence was just as bad as being dead, really. She almost felt sorry for them, infact, she did. But she didn't worry. Not about that. She didn't need them to believe her story, because she knew they would. They'd lap it up like starving animals at her feet. The one person who wouldn't believe it was Neji, and he was the only one who she wanted to. He wasn't an idiot; he knew what their home was like. The blue mark on his head, branded in with hot iron was proof of that. He knew that she chose to go with him, even if he had his story all wrong when he first thought so. He knew the truth. The ugly, shocking truth that she knew he wouldn't tell anyone with choice. She just knew. But she didn't need to worry about him. Sasuke said he wouldn't hurt him, and he wouldn't lie.

"Yes?" She asked, as she emerged from the trees onto the dirt track. Thirty steps. That would be all it took. Thirty small, miniscule steps at a rate of inches of hours if she wanted. Sasuke was shrunk back into the shadows of the trees in her sight, but she could still see him struggling. Words were rushing through his head, blindingly fast. Confusing, interesting, colourful and bright words that he was finding it hard to say.

_Changeyourmindkeepyourselfsafeandrunfromme.Getawaybreakawayrunaway._

"Don't screw up." He said, turning his back so only the stark white shirt he wore was the thing she could see in the light. But even that disappeared in an instant. She exhaled deeply, blinking fast. Her home was so many shades, murky grey to the world but to those who really knew it such an ugly shade of black. It needed redemption. It needed to speak out for itself. It needed to say so many things. Just like Sasuke.

One step forward, two steps back. One step forward, then turn and run away. It would be so easy not to go in there, not to meet the idiots that were usually on the gate. They were insignificant to her, really, but she needed them to get in. She briefly wondered just why it was her legs were shaking, fear? Or was it anticipation, joy that the darkness was going to be exposed for everyone to see? Steeling herself, she ignored the steps she had carefully counted and pelted forward. She ran towards the gate, stopping and skidding to a grinding halt at the last moment. The last step she took was the most difficult, but somehow she managed to force herself to take it.

"Ino?" A too familiar voice questioned. Her eyes glided to her side almost instantly, a sort of numbness filling her bones. Oh, Jesus. No, no, no. This wasn't supposed to happen. Of all the people to have a sick day, it had to be the guards. Of all the people to replace them, even. Of all the shinobi who could spend their days doing something like sit and wait and check papers every so often for a day, sleeping and eating in between like they were new sports. Blue connected with brown as Shikamaru and Ino exchanged shocked stares, and Chouji sat with his mouth wide open. Stunned. They were all stunned. That much was clear, especially in her case. She tore the look away from herself; a bright grin forced on to replace it.

"Shikamaru, this booth stinks like smoke. Cigarettes please, as well as the matches as I am assuming that you left your lighter in the desk like you do every Wednesday." Ino beamed, and his face immediately dropped in some sort of disappointment. Only she would say something like that and get away with it. Only she would know his rituals, his habits, his little quirks other than Chouji. There was no point even checking if it was really her, it was too obvious. Just like her to pull a stunt like the one she was doing right then, too. He grumbled, but obliged. She never took well to being told that she couldn't have something. Princesses always got what they wanted, and he learnt that long ago.

"Neji and a huge group are out looking for you, but we came back early from it because we figured you'd be back by now knowing you. I'm assuming they'll be back soon though, because they left not long after us according to the messages Tsunade has received. About an hour, probably. You're going to get into a lot of trouble for his stunt though, Ino. Try to behave a bit when Tsunade goes in for the kill, I've learnt it's less troublesome not to bother arguing." Shikamaru advised. She laughed, just because it was so like him to come out with something like that. To know her that well. Just so like the both of them, so familiar. Neji was coming back soon though, and that caused an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Ah well, never mind. Later." Ino waved, before speeding off before they could even offer their goodbyes in return. Her dirty purple-clad clothing was the only thing they could see soon after, the sign that she was darting in between people in the streets in a dash to reach the Hokage tower. That and a small trail of smoke. She never liked smoking, but she'd lit up anyway. She needed that small light to give her some confidence. Never mind the match she lit it with, stamped into the ground a few metres back. Unlike she was used to knowing, ending things was easier than it seemed. Sasuke had offered her a new beginning, a new light. But the unlit, burned out match in the dust was proof enough of something else. Something else that was a less likable idea, a hated one infact.

Sometimes, endings just didn't give new beginnings.

* * *

Neji briefly felt something crunch under his foot.

It was a burnt out match, which snap in two completely as he rushed down the road. Dodging and weaving between people like she had, just as fast. Her blonde pigtail had just reached the tower, and he'd hoped that by now she would have looked back. But she hadn't. She hadn't seen him, and he doubted she would want to be stopped by his stare anyway. He knew. He knew what was going on. He had it all figured out. The reformed Team Seven had taken to the skies, running along roofs behind them. His own team mates were slipping down side streets, going around to reach the back entrance of the Hokage tower that was their rendezvous point. Team Eight had dotted themselves around various places, and her two team mates were going to begin to make there way there about the time they felt she would enter the tower. He trusted them to be accurate judges of that.

_Ino! Turn back, now!_

He saw her briefly turn as soon as he thought it, just as she slipped through the doors. She didn't meet his eyes. She was. She was going to do it. Whatever insane, idiotic, suicidal idea Sasuke had implanted in her head as something she needed to do. She was following it through, ignoring others. She was stubborn as ever, but he couldn't help but think that she looked different in those few seconds. Not being able to look directly at someone was rare of Ino; she didn't care what others thought. Never, she simply did not. But somehow, it felt like she was avoiding him. Avoiding showing him something, letting him see what she was going to do. That idea was confirmed when he reached the door, and everyone in sight had been quickly knocked out with a medical needle in the neck. They'd all be out for a week. He could hear shouts, too. Not hers, but they were silenced almost instantly.

"Ino! Stop! Stop it! This isn't like you!" He shouted, his voice sounding harsher than he wanted it to. He heard a large bang. Tenten and Lee must have seen the opportune moment when she had dashed around the back, because there were loud sounds of things being broken. The booms soon stopped though, but not before a large chunk of stone slab fell from the ceiling behind him. This was madness. Absolute madness, what was she doing? He felt himself shout at her to stop again when he heard a female scream he could only identify as that of Tenten, but either she didn't want to listen or she didn't hear. More likely the former.

_You don't know me._

Her voice rang in his head, sharp and hurtful. He reached the back door, but she was already gone. Shit. What were those massive sharp marks? His answer was there, right in front of him. A silver haired male stood by the door, his team mates completely disappeared. A large sword was in his hand, small beads of water dripping down his skin. Their eyes briefly met, a shark like grin being his only answer for the millions of questions before a single statement.

"So, you're Neji? Sasuke said to leave you to him. I wonder why. That pretty doll girl, Ino? She's the reason, isn't she?" He laughed. With that, he melted away through the door. Blunt objects flew at him again, presumably from Tenten. His team mates were not defeated that easily. He may have thrown them down, and probably injured Lee pretty badly judging from a bloodstain smeared up the wall, but they wouldn't lose. They never lost. With that thought in mind, Neji ran on. Up the corridor to the second floor, where another man waited.

"I think I'll kill you. He said to leave you to him, but the urge is too great!" He shouted. Narrowly dodging an attack that would have killed him instantly if it had hit made him thankful when Team Eight entered. Hinata assured him that they could take him on, and he believed his cousin. She wasn't like she had been years ago, and her team mates were more than competent. He rushed on, past the flurry of harsh blows that were being exchanged in the fight. The third floor was the last one, and even as he rushed through the corridor towards Tsunade's room he could hear sounds of destruction. A battle was also evidently going on overhead, Team Seven and an unidentified person he assumed was also someone who would either mock him or try to kill him if they saw him. But they wouldn't have a chance. Before he even heard Naruto's cry of anger, he had smashed the door to the Hokage tower open to see something through the smashed glass he never thought he would.

Flames. Konoha was in flames. The place with a belief in the will of fire going up in smoke. Crimson reds matching blood, scarlets and deep sunset oranges. Striking shades of sunny and pastel yellow, then dark black clouds setting against the bright colours. It was like someone had tried to paint a sunset, and instead ended up with an image of destruction. Tsunade stared at the sky, her back turned on her enemies and him. A sight to behold, something so close to the apocalypse for her. But the fact that the leader of the village looked so frightened however was not the thing that scared him most.

Ino was watching it too, utter horror etched unto her face. In a few instants, the time it had taken her to reach there, a group of just five people against an entire village had caused chaos beyond belief. Her hands were shaking weakly, one beginning to lift her creased skirt to reach her pouch. He stared at her a moment, waiting for her to draw a weapon.

_You're so presumptuous, you know that?_

"For a genius, you sure are idiotic." She added, drawing a cigarette. Moving her foot, he saw the stubbed out cigarette underneath her foot that had burnt a small hole in the carpet. A match also came from her pocket, lighting it without a second thought. It hovered in her hand, clouds of smoke drifting around the warm room like a sickly disease. He let out a small cough, reaching out his hand as she began to move towards the window. He must have looked like such an idiot, such a fool to her. A fool to believe he could stop her, to believe she could care about him and the village. But even though he had those dark thoughts, he knew they weren't true. She could put on that tough, brazen act. But he saw through it. He'd already seen how scared she was. She didn't want this to happen. Not at all.

Broken glass caught her legs and drew blood as she moved through the window and stood on the charred roof slates, only to be joined by someone else. Someone he never wanted to be here, someone he didn't want to believe she would listen to or care for despite his previous thoughts. His dark hair billowed around his sharp face in the smoky air, his jutting chin prominent as he turned to face him. Obsidian and white met, whilst flames still danced in blue orbs as they finally looked around upon feeling the tension.

"You promised not to hurt him." Ino muttered, and Neji's eyes flashed to look at her. The words were not directed at him, no. They were directed at Sasuke. She'd been promised something that wasn't so, and they both knew it. Her mutter sounded almost pleading, her eyes weakening their hard glaring walls as she looked at him. It only took an instant for Sasuke to smirk and mere milliseconds for him to move behind Neji. Tsunade still did not move, still watching the village burn. Ino raised her hands in a familiar signal, hovering it before their Hokage. Sorry wasn't what she said, but she opened her lips and formed the letters slowly. She collapsed on the balcony, falling straight to her knees. Tsunade's eyes closed then opened abruptly, her jutsu a clear success.

Sasuke was gone again, directly beside the body of Tsunade. Her face looked up at him, the hazel eyes of the older blonde completely unreadable. Neji watched for a few seconds before he heard it echo in his head.

_Don't you fucking dare, Sasuke Uchiha. _

"Sorry, Ino. Forgive me this one transgression." His sword was unsheathed in an instant, and thrown directly at the other male. Neji barely dodged it, the harsh metal clang being the only proof he was alive as it embedded itself into the wall. Tsunade slumped; Ino was in clear dejection and felt she was unable to do anything. That much was obvious. Neji readied himself, standing in his usual stance. Flexible, controlled, superior. They were both these things. This would be a difficult battle.

Without his favoured weapon, Sasuke was still deadly. They threw various hits at one another for a decent amount of time, each barely dodging the other but still managing to counter. Sharingan versus byakugan, Uchiha versus Hyuga, but no longer for reasons that were passed down from those so far before them. This time, it really was their battle to fight. Fists against palms, barehand against gentle fist. Oil slipped beneath their feet, mocking them. Liquids were supposed to end things, put fires out. Not ignite them even further.

Then there was an opening. Sasuke slipped in the oil, taking a neat dive into a roll that covered him in it. Instead of hitting a down opponent, Neji took the moment to regain his breath. It wasn't from, honour, oh no. He'd kick him when he was down, this bastard. This lying, stealing, bastard who didn't deserve to live. But he was tired, oh so tired, and getting even worse. His breath was ragged, which regardless of the fact his opponents also was made him wary. Until he saw it. Saw her.

"One transgression? You've made several." They both froze, Sasuke's move to begin their pattern of blocked attacks and weak counters stopped instantly. Ino was standing straight up, staring directly at the Uchiha with something Neji couldn't quite describe. It wasn't hurt, fear or horror like it had been when she'd seen the village in flames. No, this was something else entirely. Anger. Fierce, burning anger more scorching and harmful then the flames that were beginning to lick at the sides of the building.

"I'm not big on forgiveness, you both know that. You, Neji, believed that I was a whore who'd betray my village. Well, I'm halfway there now. Never a whore, of course. But I've helped this guy make it go up in smoke." She gestured to Sasuke, who was staring at her with a mix of evident confusion and if it really was what it seemed, hurt. To crack an Uchiha, to break him down to his core and get under his skin, especially that of a treacherous Uchiha? Ino was something else. Maybe that was why he cared about her. She wasn't normal, never had been. Infact, she was far from it.

"You, Sasuke. You told me things that made me believe this village was so sick and wrong. Twisted, harmful and filled with darkness. Yet as soon as I see the Godaime's memories, her knowledge, I know you're wrong. Stuff like that doesn't always happen. Your family was an exception, and whilst I feel pity for you and your brother, I have to wonder. Why do you only see things in black and white? Why did you make me see them like that too? We both have so much here. Well, did. Friends. Aspirations. Loves. Yet you'd see them in ruins for your own goals. Myself?" Ino breathed, putting a quick pause in. Her eyes ran quickly over him, covered in flammable oil. He stared at her, obsidian eyes looking empty. Neji watched on, more because of compulsion than anything else.

"I'm a monster, not human. A monster like you, but one with a heart. I know how to tear people apart on the inside, just like you do. On the outside, too. We're both very alike, you know. But there's one difference. I've learnt to see the good in people." She threw her still burning cigarette out of the window, and drew a match from her weapon pouch. They both watched on. She really deserved a standing ovation from a crowd, with a speech like this.

"I believe in darkness, I believe in light. I believe in love, and one more thing." She smiled, a happy small grin. Neji drew hope from it, knowing that it was real. So many things could happen, but that was one thing that could give him a little light of hope in his life. Even in the icy deep caverns of despair belonging to an ogre, that smile from Ino would create a tiny glow-worm of hope. It was amazing really, that she could have such an effect on people. It was her own skill, making others lights brighter and brighter. She made others happy, made them smile. That was how they got brighter, even the smallest lights. Her smile.

"I believe in the will of fire." She stated. Then, the match between her forefinger and her thumb flipped, and the lit match hit the oil. Lights weren't made to be put out.

They were made to burn.

* * *

Sasuke could feel it enveloping him.

Flames brighter than those he had created in the streets, crawling up his skin and beginning to lick painfully at his insides. Or was that the flames? She said she was a monster. She, the one who he needed more than anything else, who he had actually managed to put some trust in. Oh, she was wrong. Ever so sickeningly wrong.

It may all be going up in ashes, literally for him, but she was still remotely human. She wasn't anything like him, really. No, they had their small similarities, but she wasn't made to belong to someone like him. So yes, he'd been wrong, a fool that would pay for his idiocy of thinking she could choose him over someone much more fitting for her. No, she wasn't fully human. He managed to mouth his words to her, thinking them as everything in his sight began to fade.

_I love you._

Being someone who played with fire himself, he should have known better than to try to play with her. There was a saying that if you played with fire, you got burned. But white flames were hotter than red ones, and they gave out so much brightness. But then again, nobody could blame him for trying. Especially not Neji. No, he knew what it was like to be blinded by that light too. To be drawn to it. But there was one thing to console him, one small minute thing as his body slipped to the floor and became devoid of all pulse, beat and breath.

She was a light, a beautiful, burning light.

* * *

Stay tuned for the epilogue.


	8. Epilogue

Note: Epilogue.

Warning(s): None, for once.

Summary: _Everyone needs a light, even if it's barely shining._

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Lights**

* * *

**_Epilogue_**

* * *

Just like it started, it ended.

Placing the tea light on a float, Neji and Ino watched as it drifted down the river. The ebb and flow of the choppy water threatened to put the small candle flame out, but never quite managed to do so. Maybe he had been like that. Stubborn underneath, with quite a volatile temper. That had been how he acted at the start. But a flame could only be that stubborn for so long before it burnt out before the eyes of another.

_You can think about tempers?_

Ino feigned a weak smile at Neji's attempt at a joke to cheer her up. He was ever so awkward, so unknowingly shy underneath and she liked it more than most things about anyone else. He was so unused to being social like she was that he never really knew what to do most times. He didn't know what words to say to try to make things better, or how to pretend that something was real. She knew, she knew about how he felt. But that was okay. It had only been a week since the mess, and she was on probation. An ugly mark on her spotless record, but it was a small price to pay for her actions. She was going to take things slowly, if she could control herself. But she was impatient, so she doubted she would be any good at it.

"Yes. Learn to love it." She smiled softly, standing up straight and watching as the light began to grow ever smaller in the distance as it moved. She supposed that Neji was getting at the pot calling the kettle black, but it didn't really matter. He'd meant it well. She finally redirected her gaze to look down at him, staring up at her with some sort of strange intensity. She couldn't quite describe it, but she knew what it was.

_I already do love it._

He looked away, in his sweet strange way she couldn't help but find adorable. He wasn't even flushing like other guys would, no; he'd never do something like that. Probably not, anyway. But it didn't matter. In his own, reserved Neji way, he'd told her something she wanted to hear. Her small smile broadened as she watched his steady breathing, his eyes clearly attempting to focus on the pinpoint of light drifting away in the distance.

"Good, because I love everything about you." She whispered in his ear as bent over, placing her hand gently on his shoulder. She felt the shivers on his skin, then quickly moved away and sat beside him. It was too hard, to continue like this. She was a fire, contagious, setting light to everything else and like fires she was never any good at waiting. There went her idea of controlling herself, stamped out like the smallest of flames.

_I love you, Neji._

Even in utter darkness, something can make a difference. In the depths of a dank cave, unknown by humankind some bats may live. Their rebirth gives life, gives the light of happiness to that cavern. During a blackout in the smallest, most remote of towns or even the biggest a small candle can provide the light of hope to many people outside waiting in the cold. To Neji, she had given a new light. Because she had given him love, something rare and and kindred deep in both their hearts. Placing a single, short, soft kiss on his lips as he turned to speak to her, she dashed away, leaving only a trail of light behind for him to follow as she laughed. Sasuke had needed a light, and he'd had one for a short time. The candle floating down the river was proof enough of that, and one other thing.

Everyone needs a light, even if it's barely shining.

* * *

So, that is the end of Lights. Completed on October 1st 2008, at sixteen minutes past five when I had a broken internet. I feel sort of like I have accomplished something in finishing this series, and I hope all the readers enjoyed the ending. Even those who were hoping for Sasuke to win Ino over! The entire idea of this was that even in the darkest moments, something small and bright, a light, can give us something to believe in. For the last time in this series, reviews are loved. I hope that you all have found a little joy in this, too, if you will. The smallest, most insignificant of lights can come from the least expected things.


End file.
